Thane: Seven children and four others were killed after a three-storeyed building collapsed in Maharashtra’s Bhiwandi town Monday. Thirteen others, including a four-year-old boy were rescued from the rubble, police said. The 43-year-old Jhilani building caved in at 3.40 am, police informed. They said among the children killed, there was a two-year-old.
Personnel of the Thane Disaster Response Force (TDRF) were seen pulling out the four-year-old boy from the debris and helping him drink water. He has been identified as Ubed Quraishi. Bhiwandi is a powerloom town around 10 km from this city. The building had 40 flats and around 150 persons lived in it, an official said. It collapsed while the residents were asleep.
Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are at the spot. NDRF DG SN Pradhan said they were using a canine squad to search persons trapped in the debris. There is a possibility that the toll may rise as a number of people are still missing.
A portion of the building collapsed and many occupants were trapped in the debris, a Thane Municipal Corporation official said. The building was not in the list of dilapidated structures of the Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation, he added.
The power supply to the locality was snapped as a precautionary measure, the official informed. He added that the injured have been admitted to local hospitals.
Bhiwandi DCP Rajkumar Shinde said offences under sections 337,338,304 (2)of the IPC were being registered against the owner of building Sayyed Ahmed Jilani. This was done following a complaint by the civic officials after the collapse.
Thane guardian minister Eknath Shinde said the collapse would be probed. He visited the site and announced a compensation of Rs 5,00,000 to the kin of each victim. He said 102 ‘dangerous buildings’ in the powerloom town have already been evacuated.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed anguish at the loss of lives in the building collapse. “Saddened by the building collapse in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra. Condolences to the bereaved families. Praying for a quick recovery of those injured. Rescue operations are underway and all possible assistance is being provided to the affected,” Modi tweeted.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray expressed pain over the collapse. He instructed the administration to ensure proper rescue operation and treatment to the injured, his office said.