2 killed, 6 injured as building slab collapses in Navi Mumbai: Officials

Two persons were killed and six others injured when the slab of a 20-year-old residential building collapsed in Nerul area of Navi Mumbai, fire brigade officials said on Thursday.

The third floor ceiling slab of the four-storey Tulsi Bhavan building located at Shirsole in Nerul collapsed at around 8.50 pm on Wednesday, they said.

The slab came crashing down on the second and first floors, killing a labourer and another person, divisional fire officer Purushottam Jadhav said.

The building has four wings and the slab collapsed in its 'B' wing, he said.

Some civil work was underway on the third floor when the slab collapsed, said another fire official.

The building has a tailoring shop on the ground floor and the shopkeeper closed the outlet and left the place a few minutes before the incident, he said.

One of the deceased has been identified as Babaji Shingade, Jadhav said.

The injured persons have been admitted to a local hospital, he said.

The building has been evacuated and the occupants currently lodged at the Ahilyabai Holkar Samaj Mandir hall in Nerul, the official said.

After being alerted, fire engines from Nerul and Vashi along with the disaster management team rushed to the spot and carried out rescue operations and later cleared the debris.

Navi Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Rajesh Narvekar and other senior officials also reached the spot to supervise the rescue and relief operations.

The building was legal and had all the requisite permits, another civic official said.

The bodies have been sent to a government hospital for postmortem.

Local police have as of now registered a case of accidental death, Jadhav said.