5 Dead, Several Feared Trapped in Rubble After Century-Old Structure Collapses in Dongri

Mumbai : At least five people have died, seven are injured and around 15 are still believed to be trapped under debris after a four-storey residential building collapsed in south Mumbai’s congested Dongri area on Tuesday. The ground-plus-four-storey ‘Kesarbai’ building, located in a densely populated narrow lane in Dongri’s Tandel Street, crashed around 11.40 am. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) disaster management cell said that 40-50 people were trapped initially. Some part of the building was left standing after the collapse.

Fire brigade, Mumbai Police and civic officials rushed to the site but the constricted lanes made it difficult to access the area, reduced to a mass of rubble, twisted concrete and broken wires. Scores of locals joined in the effort, forming a human chain to help in removing the debris brick by brick and picking up slabs of concrete to locate those buried. Television visuals showed a young child being rescued and handed over to workers.