12 killed, 14 injured in building collapse; many feared trapped

Mumbai: A five-storey residential building in the congested Bhendi Bazar area of south Mumbai collapsed Thursday, killing at least 12 people and injuring 14 others, officials said. About 30 others were feared trapped.

Fire brigade officials said some nine families lived in the dilapidated Husaini Building. Some media reports said it also housed a play school but children had not arrived yet when the tragedy occurred.

The building, mostly housing lower-middle class families, was located in the Muslim-dominated Pakmodia Street near the J J Hospital.

The building, which also had six godowns on the ground floor, crumbled at around 8:30 a.m. It's not clear if the heavy rains that inundated Mumbai this week had weakened the building, said to be over 100 years old.

What remained was a large mound of concrete rubble and steel rods encircled by other houses including what appeared to be a tall building. Rescue workers in hard hats clambered up the mound and hammered at concrete slabs with hammers to reach underneath. Cranes and bulldozers were also deployed to scoop up the debris. Residents helped with bare hands.

"The exact number of trapped people cannot be known immediately," deputy commissioner of police (Zone 1) Manoj Sharma said.

"Our priority is to pull out at the earliest those trapped under the rubble of the dilapidated building," said Maharashtra Industries Minister Subhash Desai, who is also the guardian minister for Mumbai.

"Once the rescue work gets over, the government will conduct a probe to ascertain the factors behind the building collapse. Strict action will be taken against those found guilty," he told reporters.

The disaster management cell of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) received a call about the collapse at 8.40 a.m.

The MCGM rushed its emergency rescue team followed by ambulances, dumpers and earth-movers to the spot. Soon, 90 personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were also rushed to the spot.

"We immediately rushed fire brigade personnel to the site to rescue the trapped people," a senior MCGM official said.

The rescue operation is being carried out by the NDRF team with the help of fire brigade personnel.

A senior police official said 12 people, including an elderly couple, died and 14 others were injured in the incident. The injured were admitted to the J J Hospital.

The deceased included nine men and three women, he said.

Their identity is being established.

The injured were carried in stretchers before being transferred to white ambulances.

The incident occurred two days after the city was pummelled by torrential rains, which may have caused damage to the building.

Some residents claimed that about 40 people belonging to nine families lived in crammed rooms in the structure, which was declared "unsafe" by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).

This is the second major building collapse in the city in just over a month, after the crash of a residential complex in suburban Ghatkopar area on July 25, which left 17 people dead.

The Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), which has undertaken redevelopment of the 117-year-old structure, said the building housed a total of 13 tenants -- 12 residential and one commercial. "Of them, the trust had already shifted seven families in 2013-14," it said in a statement.

"MHADA notices dated March 28 and May 20, 2011, declaring the building dilapidated, were issued along with an offer of transit accommodation to the remaining tenants and occupants," it said.