A three-storey building on the outskirts of Mumbai has collapsed in the early morning hours as residents slept inside, killing at least eight people, according to local reports.
A further 20 to 25 people are reportedly trapped in the building in Bhiwandi, Satya Pradhan, the chief of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), said in a tweet on Monday.
More than 40 emergency workers had arrived at the scene, an official told AFP news agency, including a team of 30 rescuers from the NDRF.
The accident in the city of Bhiwandi, about 40km (25 miles) from Mumbai, occurred around 3:40am local time (22:10 GMT on Sunday), local authorities said.
Images broadcast on the NDRF’s official Twitter page showed emergency workers combing through concrete and brick rubble with electrical wires hanging over their heads.
Television showed a pile of rubble with rescuers climbing ladders to get to anyone still inside and deploying dogs to search for survivors.
Video: The building caved in early on Monday, police said, adding search and rescue operations are under way#BhiwandiBuildingCollapse pic.twitter.com/QO7qfZ4jai
— TOI Mumbai (@TOIMumbai) September 21, 2020
Reuters partner in India, ANI, quoted the spokesman of Bhiwandi municipal corporation as saying eight people were dead.
The building had been on a list of dangerous buildings and a notice for it to be vacated had been issued, the Times of India reported, citing Pankaj Ashiya, a commissioner in the Bhiwandi-Nizampura City Municipal Corporation.
Last month, at least 13 people were killed after a five-storey building collapsed in Mahad, an industrial town about 165km (100 miles) south of Mumbai.
In 2017, National Crime Records Bureau data showed that more than 1,200 people were killed in building collapses nationwide.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/india-deadly-building-collapse-mumbai-feared-trapped-200921031359491.html
