Four dead, 30 feared trapped in Mumbai building collapse

Mumbai building collapse: Four persons were killed, 12 others injured, while around 30 people are feared trapped after a five-storey residential building collapsed in Bhendi Bazaar area of south Mumbai today, fire department sources said.

The building, located at Pakmodia street near JJ Hospital, with 12 rooms and six godowns on the ground floor, crumbled at around 8:30 am.

According to fire brigade sources present at the spot, "There were around nine families staying in the building. Thirty people are feared trapped."

"Our disaster management cell received a call at 8.40 am about the collapse. We immediately rushed fire brigade personnel to the site to rescue the trapped people. We fear that several people are trapped under the debris," a senior official of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) said.

A senior police official said that 12 people were rushed to JJ Hospital so far. "The exact number of trapped people cannot be known immediately. The rescued people were rushed to JJ Hospital," DCP, Zone 1, Manoj Sharma said.

Meanwhile, fire department sources have informed that three persons, including an elderly couple, died in the mishap.

A 45-member team (of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is carrying out the rescue operation with the help of fire brigade personnel. It is not known whether the building was on the list of dangerous structures under the MCGM limits. The incident occurred two days after the city was pummeled by torrential rains, which is may have caused damage to the building.

Picture: Sahil Salvi.