19 dead as Mumbai building once considered for demolition collapses

A four-story building that had originally been labelled as dilapidated but was later found to be "reparable" collapsed in Mumbai's Kurla neighbourhood before midnight on Monday, killing at least 19 people and injuring 14. After the incident, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation ordered the evacuation of Naik Nagar Housing Society, one of the four buildings in the complex, as it was also deemed unsafe (BMC).

Senior BMC officials said that although residents of the 1973-built building had promised to make repairs, none were really done.

Search and rescue activities were carried out by the fire brigade, police, local officials, and two teams of the National Disaster Response Force.

The search and rescue effort finished around 6.30 p.m., according to NDRF deputy commandant Ashish Kumar, but debris removal continued.

33 people in all had been pulled from the rubble since Monday at midnight. According to BMC officials, four of the injured were still receiving care in hospitals while the others were released.

Watch | Gravitas: At least 19 dead in Mumbai building collapse

Rescued people were brought to hospitals run by the government, such as Rajawadi Hospital and Sion Hospital. Before being admitted, the majority of the deceased were proclaimed dead.

Ex gratia aid of Rs 5,00000 apiece from the CM's Relief Fund was announced by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for the relatives of the deceased.

In addition to expressing his sorrow over the deaths, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced ex-gratia payments from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund of Rs 2,00000 for each of the surviving family members of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured.

Aaditya Thackeray, the minister for tourism and the environment in Maharashtra, also went to the location.

This is the third significant building collapse that has occurred in the city this month.

On June 23, slab of a two-storey industrial structure collapsed in Chembur area, killing a man and injuring 10 others. On June 9, a three-storey residential building collapsed in suburban Bandra, where a 55-year-old man was killed and 18 others suffered injuries.

Cabbie Satish Kshetre was relaxing with his guests in his room in the neighbouring building when he suddenly felt as if an earthquake had struck. As soon as he realised that the neighbouring wing of his building had crumbled, the first thought that came to his mind was to rescue his family members and guests.

As the common staircase of the east and west sides of the affected D wing also collapsed, Kshetre, a resident of the third floor of the west side, prepared a rope using sarees and rescued ten people, including his family members and some guests visiting him, with the help of local people.

All four floors located on the east portion of the D building in the Naik Nagar Coop Housing Society were sandwiched in the crash. On the west side, the ground and the first floors were affected while the remaining three floors remained intact.

"For a moment I thought we will not survive but by the grace of God, we are alive," Kshetre told PTI.

Devraj Badiya, a resident of Kurla, was eagerly awaiting news about the whereabouts of his younger brother Ramesh while waiting on the road outside. The anxious wait turned into despair when Ramesh's dead body was pulled out of the debris.

The BMC will carry out a probe into how the building's classification changed, and who carried out the last structural audit, said municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal.

The building was declared a dilapidated 'C1' category structure in 2016 which meant it was unfit to live in.

The civic body had even initiated legal action as the society did not carry out repairs.

In May 2016, its water and power connection were cut.

But the building was included in the C-2B category on June 30, 2016, on the basis of structural audit report received from Sachdeva and Associates, an authorized audit firm.

A C-2B classification means a building need not be demolished and it can be repaired.

"We took an undertaking from them (residents) that they would do necessary repairs. Since the building was in C2-B category, it went out of our radar," commissioner Chahal said.

Ashwini Bhide, additional municipal commissioner, told PTI that the BMC had been issuing notices to the building repeatedly under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act since 2013, initially asking for repairs and then for vacating it and demolition.

"Even prosecution for non-compliance was initiated. Later the residents got structural audit redone, and got it categorised as repairable, but didn't carry out actual repairs," Bhide said.

The residents stayed put despite constant efforts by the BMC to get the building vacated, she added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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