Maharashtra building collapse: 11 dead, rescue ops underway for 22 hours

At least eleven people have died and 19 are still feared trapped under debris of a five-storeyed building in Maharashtra’s Raigad district which caved in on Monday (August 24) evening.

NDTV pegged the number of deaths at two and said at least 25 people are trapped under the debris.

Officials told NDTV that seven bodies were found in the last two hours in the debris.

While more than 60 people have been rescued so far, rescue personnel are still sifting through the rubble to find the other trapped residents of the building.

The rescue operations have been going on for more than 22 hours now.

A man died of cardiac arrest on Monday night after he was hit by a stone from the falling  building, Raigad District Superintendent of Police Anil Paraskar said.

“This person was not a resident of the building, but was walking nearby when it collapsed and was hit by a stone from the falling debris. He died of cardiac arrest,” Paraskar said.

Expressing his grief over the incident on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra said local authorities and NDRF teams are providing all possible assistance at the site.

“Saddened by the building collapse in Mahad, Raigad in Maharashtra. My thoughts are with the families of those who lost their dear ones. I pray the injured recover soon. Local authorities and NDRF teams are at the site of the tragedy, providing all possible assistance,” the Prime Ministers Office tweeted quoting Modi.

An official at the Mantralaya State Control Room of the State Disaster Management Unit said the Tarek Garden building collapsed at Kajalpura in Mahad tehsil around 7 pm.

There were around 40 flats in the building, the official said, adding those rescued were shifted to a local hospital at Mahad, which is around 170 km from Mumbai.

Three teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 12 teams of the fire brigade are at the spot for rescue operations. Canine squads were also deployed at the scene of the collapse, an official said.

State ministers Aditya Thackeray and Eknath Shinde visited the site on Monday.

A case has been filed against Yunus Shaikh, the building’s contractor and the architect.

The injured have been sent to a Mumbai hospital for treatment.

(With inputs from agencies)