Thane building collapse: Toll rises to 56

Prithviraj Chavan said an additional chief secretary level enquiry had been ordered

More bodies were pulled out of the massive debris of the seven-storey illegal under-construction building that collapsed here, taking the toll to 56 today in the mishap in which a deputy municipal commissioner and senior police inspector were suspended.

Heartbreaking tales like a male survivor losing 13 of his family members unfolded, as rescuers, armed with sensor-fitted equipment, still looked for survivors and bodies in the debris of bricks, mortar and twisted steel, a day after the collapse at Shil-Phata in Daighar, Mumbra.      

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said 53 were injured, in a discussion on the collapse in the legislative assembly.

Chavan said an additional chief secretary level enquiry had been ordered. The dead included nine women and 11 children, Thane Civic Corporation sources said.      

The injured have been admitted to hospitals in Thane, Kalwa and  Mumbra and the seriously injured were shifted to JJ and Sion Hospitals in Mumbai.      

A case has been registered against builders Salil and Khalil Jamadar under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of IPC, Thane Commissioner of Police K P Raghuvanshi said, adding the two were absconding.

Chavan, who visited the site of the building collapse, said the deputy municipal commissioner concerned and senior police inspector have been suspended.      

Alok Awasthi, Commandant of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), which has been pressed into service to assist the local police and civic administration in rescue efforts, said 59 persons had been pulled out alive but some more survivors could still be trapped under the debris.      Awasthi said though he was not an engineer, the poor quality of construction was primarily responsible for the tragedy.