At least 14 people, including a mother-daughter duo, were killed and six others seriously injured after a portion of an unauthorised four-story building collapsed on an adjacent vacant tenement at Virar in Maharashtra's Palghar district on Wednesday, officials said. While six bodies were retrieved from under the debris, six others died during treatment at various hospitals. Two more bodies were recovered on Thursday.
As the residents are trapped, rescue work is underway with the help of Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation Fire Department and two teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
The Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation (VVMC) stated in a release that six persons remain admitted to various hospitals in the area and Nalasopara on the outskirts of Mumbai. Three others were discharged after treatment. This accident happened at 11:30 last night. This building is ten years old, and the Municipal Corporation had declared it extremely dangerous.
According to the District Disaster Management Officer (DDMO)-cum-District Palghar, the rear part of the four-storey building of Ramabai Apartment, located between Chamunda Nagar and Vijay Nagar on Narangi Road in Vasai taluka, has collapsed on the chawl below the building.
A spokesperson of the Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation confirmed that the building was “illegal". The removal of debris was delayed because officials initially struggled to bring heavy machinery to the crashed building located in a congested locality.
(Input: Hanif)
