At least 10 people were killed on Monday and dozens were feared trapped when a portion of a three-storey residential building collapsed on the outskirts of the Indian city of Mumbai, officials said.
Some residents were trying to get out of the building, in the industrial town of Bhiwandi, 40 km (25 miles) northeast of Mumbai, after cracks appeared in it in the middle of the night, when it crashed down.
“Half of the building collapsed and nearly 25 to 26 families are feared trapped,” Pankaj Ashiya, the municipal commissioner of Bhiwandi, told reporters.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel rescue a survivor from the debris of a residential building which collapsed in the early morning, in Bhiwandi, outskirts of Mumbai, India, 21 September 2020. EPA-EFE/DIVYAKANT SOLANKI
It was not clear why the building, which had 54 apartments on three floors, collapsed.
At least 11 injured people were rescued.
Teams of police, city workers and members of the National Disaster Response Force removed debris in the cramped lanes of the neighbourhood, trying to reach people calling out for help under the rubble, a Reuters witness said.
Torrential rain is often blamed for building collapses in India, with the number of incidents, often involving old or illegally built buildings, rising during the June-September monsoon.
Last month, more than a dozen people were killed when a building collapsed in the industrial town of Mahad, 165 km (100 miles) south of Mumbai.
