FIVE PERSONS, including a 12-year-old boy, lost their lives after a slab of a residential building collapsed in Ulhasnagar town in Thane on Saturday afternoon.
Officials said the incident took place around 1.40 pm at camp 1 in Ulhasnagar, where a slab from the top floor of the four-storeyed Mohini Palace building came crashing down.
The deceased have been identified as Milind Parche (12), Savitri Parche (60), Aishvarya Haresh Dotwal (23), Haresh Dotwal (40) and Sandhya Haresh Dotwal (40). They belonged to two families.
Sixteen people were reportedly inside the building at the time of the incident. Immediately after the collapse, a fire brigade team from Thane and the National Disaster Response Force were rushed to the spot.
Eleven people were rescued and rushed to the hospital. While nine were given first aid and discharged, Kamlesh Achra (40) and Mahak Achra (38) were admitted.
The rescue teams took out five more persons from the debris. They were rushed to the hospital, where they were declared brought dead on arrival.
Living room of the terrace flat gave way, crashing all the way down to the ground floor. (PTI Photo)
The four-storeyed building was constructed in 1994. There were nine flats in the building – two flats each on every floor and one flat on the terrace. The two flats on the second floor were vacant. There were seven shops in the building.
Fire brigade officials said that the floor of the living room of the terrace flat gave way and crashed all the way down to the ground floor.
Four members of the Dotwal family stayed on the terrace flat. Three of them, who were in the living room, died.
On the first floor, the Parche family lived. Two members of the family died while the others, who were in the bedroom and kitchen, were rescued.
Yuvraj Badhane, PRO of Ulhasnagar civic body, said: “This was not in our dilapidated building list. We are checking if a structural audit of the building has been conducted. The building was constructed using Ulva Reti, a type of sand considered to be the cheapest.”
“We are appealing that structural audits of all buildings constructed using this sand be conducted, as these buildings are weak,” he added.
Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde, who visited the site, announced Rs 5 lakh as compensation for the families of the deceased. He also asked the civic body to conduct an inquiry into the incident.
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/building-collapses-in-ulhasnagar-dead-7316703/
