4-storey residential bldg collapses in Mumbai, 40-50 people trapped

A four-storey residential building collapsed in south Mumbai's congested Dongri area on Tuesday, trapping about 40 to 50 people under the debris, civic officials said.

The ground-plus-four-storey 'Kesarbai' building, located in a densely populated narrow lane in Dongri's Tandel Street, crashed around 11.40 am, an official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) disaster management cell said.

Some part of the building was left standing after the collapse.

Around 40 to 50 occupants of the building are trapped, he said.

Fire brigade, Mumbai Police and civic officials rushed to the site but the constricted lanes made it difficult to access the area, reduced to a mass of rubble, twisted concrete and broken wires.

Scores of locals joined in the effort, forming a human chain to help in removing the debris brick by brick and picking up slabs of concrete to locate those buried. Television visuals showed a young child being rescued and handed over to workers.

Ambulances could not reach the site and had to be parked around 50 metres away.

An eyewitness said the building collapse felt like a quake.

The building was owned by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) and its officials reached the site to assess the situation.

Two teams of the National Disaster Response Force were also deployed to help rescue those trapped.