20 dead in Navi Mumbai wall collapse

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Last updated on: February 03, 2007 21:28 IST

Twenty labourers were killed as the wall they were constructing collapsed in the Kurari village near Taloja in the satellite city of Navi Mumbai on Saturday afternoon, police said.

"We fear at least two or three more bodies to be trapped inside the debris and rescue efforts are on," Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Ramrao Wagh told PTI over phone.

A section of the under-construction wall of Bhalla Complex, which houses warehouses, collapsed at around 1.15 pm leading to the casualties, he said.

All the injured have been rushed to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Kamothe and are said to be stable.

"The construction labourers hail from Vidarbha's Buldhana district and we have also arrested the owner of the complex -- Bhalla," Wagh said.

According to him, the area around Taloja has seen a spurt in warehousing as it lies outside the municipal limits of Navi Mumbai, thus saving taxes in spite of the proximity to urban markets.

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