Nine people died and three were injured after a residential building collapsed.
BHIWANDI: Atleast nine people died and three injured after a ground-plus-four residential building collapsed in Maharashtra’s Bhiwandi early on Friday, officials said.Three people are still feared to be trapped under the debris.The building, which had earlier been declared dangerous by the Bhiwandi Nizampur City Municipal Corporation (BNCMC), collapsed while repair work was underway.Authorities said the labourers carrying out the repairs were inside the structure when it came crashing down.Four of the deceased have been identified as Shamim Shaikh, 32, Miraj Rasul Shaikh, 34, Ranjeet Singh, 45, and Shamim Ansari, 30.Meanwhile the identities of the four other victims are yet to be established.The injured, who were admitted to IGM Hospital following the building collapse, have been identified as Abhay Yadav, 26; Deepak Yadav, 25; and Sangeeta Prajapati, 36.Rescue teams from the Bhiwandi Fire Brigade and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are carrying out search operations using heavy machinery. Officials said four to five people are believed to be trapped, although the exact number is yet to be confirmed.BJP MLA Mahesh Choughule, who visited the site, said the building had been declared structurally unsafe and the civic body had issued four to five notices asking residents to vacate. Most families had moved out, but a few were still living in the building.Officials said some occupants managed to escape after the structure started collapsing.Rescue operations are continuing and more details are awaited.
