Mumbai's creaking infrastructure was on display again as a building collapsed in a congested locality Tuesday claimed four lives and left over 40 people trapped under the debris.
The four-storey residential building in south Mumbai's Dongri area, which is dotted with narrow lanes, collapsed shortly before noon, trapping over 40 people under the debris, civic officials said.
While the BMC officials put the death toll in the 100 -year-old building at four, Maharashtra housing minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said earlier that as per preliminary information, 12 to 13 people were killed in the collapse.
Nine persons were injured after the Kesarbai building, located in a bustling lane off Tandel Street, crashed, a civic official said.
Mumbai mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar said he has asked the municipal commissioner to launch a probe in the incident.
TV channels showed dramatic visuals of a child, wrapped in a cloth, being carried out of the debris by rescue workers. The child is alive, officials said.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has opened a shelter at Imamwada Municipal Secondary Girls' School after the building collapse, a civic official said.
"A team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) reaching the spot. We are assuming that 10 to 12 families are still under the debris," Mumbadevi MLA Amin Patel told reporters at the spot.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the building was around 100 years old. It was not in the list of dilapidated buildings and was given to a developer for redevelopment.
Between 10 to 15 families lived in the building, he said.
Locals said the building belonged to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA). However, Vinod Ghosalkar, chief of MHADA repair board, said the building did not belong to the housing body.
Legislator Bhai Jagtap said residents had complained to housing authorities to take prompt measures as the building was very old and in a dilapidated state for a long time.
Some part of the building was left standing after the collapse.
A civic official said around 500 buildings were declared as dilapidated this year but of them, only 68 have been evacuated.
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.
Ambulances could not reach the site and had to be parked around 50 metres away.
Former Union minister Milind Deora, said, "This is unfortunately something that happens in Mumbai every year during monsoon. Walls collapse, there are pot holes on roads where people die and young boys fall into manholes."
Deora said it was time for Mumbaikars (city residents) to seek an explanation from the government for this recurring problem.
The rescue work, which was hampered by narrow lanes, was further delayed as politicians, including ministers, legislators and leader of opposition in the Legislative Council, made a beeline to the building collapse site.
Locals and onlookers were seen helping rescue officials in the predominantly Muslim locality, while even as there were heavy deployment of the police personnel who had barricaded the affected areas.
Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi and Police Commissioner Sanjay Barve visited the site of the building collapse.
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