19 killed as 4-storey building collapses in Mumbai's Kurla

At least 19 people were killed and several others were injured after a portion of a four-storey building collapsed in Kurla (east), the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Tuesday.

While at least 14 people have been rescued so far, search operations are underway as more people are believed to be buried under the debris, they added.

A portion of ‘D wing’ of a building in Naik Nagar Society collapsed at around 11.52 pm on Monday. A team of Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) and National Disaster Response Force immediately rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation, the BMC said in a statement.

The occupants of the building were mainly tenants who were working as daily wage labourers and security guards. The injured were rushed to hospitals in Sion and Rajawadi, the civic body added. While 10 people have been discharged, four persons continue to receive treatment in the hospital.

The building that collapsed was constructed in 1975 on a plot that was then owned by the district collector of Mumbai suburbs. According to BMC officials, the civic body had declared the building ‘dilapidated’ in 2013. The residents, however, carried out a structural audit after the local ward office disconnected electricity and water connections in 2015. The report claimed the building was in a “repairable” state, the officials said.

“We will have to recheck the structural auditor’s report which said the building could be repaired. In case of private buildings, the BMC allows societies to conduct an audit by any empaneled auditor to avoid allegations that the civic body has purposefully declared a building dilapidated,” BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, who visited the spot, said. A detailed investigation will be carried out and the audit report will also be assessed, Chahal added.

Mahadev Shinde, assistant municipal commissioner of L ward, where the incident took place said, “After an auditor submits a report stating the condition of the building is repairable, we have to accept it, considering it’s a private building and our authority is limited in these cases. However, since past five years we were sending the tenants regular notices to carry out repair works,”

Ashish Kumar, deputy commandant, NDRF labelled the incident as a sandwich collapse. “100 NDRF personnel are on site working on the rescue operations,” said Kumar.

Nidhi Choudhary, collector of Mumbai suburbs, who visited the site on Tuesday afternoon said that the building was built on collector land. “The land was given to Naik Nagar society in the year 1966 and building came up around the year 1975. The BMC had declared it dilapidated. The planning authority is BMC and they will take further action,” said Choudhary.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia of ₹2 lakh each from Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for the next of kin of the deceased.