Mumbai building collapse: Two dead, 12 injured, rescue in progress

Two persons were killed and 12 others injured after a four-storey building collapsed in Mumbai, a fire brigade official said on Tuesday.

A wing of the residential building, located in Kurla's Naik Nagar Society, collapsed around midnight, the official said.

The injured people were shifted to civic hospitals in Ghatkopar and Sion.

Two men, aged 28 and 30, among those brought to the Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar, was declared dead on arrival, a civic official said.

A woman, who was trapped under the debris, was rescued by a team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

Rescuers cheered when the woman was brought out alive from the rubble.

Fire brigade personnel were searching for more survivors, the official said.

Earlier, locals informed the fire brigade personnel that around 20-22 people were trapped under the debris, when they reached the spot after receiving a call about the incident, the official said, adding that the numbers may vary.

Around a dozen fire engines were deployed at the spot, besides two rescue vans and other fire brigade equipment, the official said.

Teams of the fire brigade and the NDRF were engaged in the search and rescue operations at the site along with civic staff and police.

NDRF commandant Anupam Srivastava said two of their teams were involved in the search and rescue work at the building.

A connected wing of building was also in a dilapidated condition and likely to collapse, and its residents were shifted out, a civic official said.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had been issuing notices to the collapsed building repeatedly since 2013, under provisions of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, initially for repairs and then for vacating it and demolition, Additional Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide told PTI.

"Even prosecution for-non compliance was initiated. Later, the residents got the structural audit redone and got the building categorised as repairable, but didn't carry out the repairs," said the official, who visited the spot on Tuesday and reviewed the search and rescue operation.

Bhide said despite the BMC's continuous efforts to vacate the building, people had continued to stay there.

The building residents had even given an undertaking that they would stay there at their risk and cost, she said.

Maharashtra Environment and Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray also visited the site and reviewed the search and rescue operation.

This is the third major building collapse incident in the metropolis this month.

On June 23, the slab of a two-storey industrial structure collapsed in Chembur area, killing a 22-year-old person and injuring 10 others.

On June 9, a three-storey residential building collapsed in suburban Bandra, where a 55-year-old man was killed and 18 others suffered injuries.