A huge rescue effort is underway after the five-storey building – which was home to around 200 people – caved in on Monday night amid India’s monsoon season
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Rescuers have pulled more than 60 survivors from the debris of a building that collapsed in India, but two people have been killed while at least 30 are still trapped.
The five-storey building which was home to 200 people caved in on Monday evening near a slum district in Mahad – an industrial town near India's financial capital Mumbai.
Distressed families shouted the names of relatives they believed were trapped in the rubble as rescue efforts were ramped up on Tuesday.
There were believed to be up to around 125 people in the building – which comprised 47 flats – at the time of the collapse, which injured at least 18 people.
In quotes reported by Gulf News, local lawmaker Bharatshet Maruti Gogawale said: "I believe about 100 to 125 people must have been inside at the time of its collapse."
A huge rescue operation is underway after the five-storey building collapsed
(Image: REUTERS)
He added that around 30 people were still trapped in the rubble.
The building fell almost like a pack of cards, said a police official at the site in Mahad, about 100 miles south of Mumbai in western Maharashtra state.
Residents, police and sniffer dogs combed through tin sheets, metal rods and other wreckage in a desperate search for survivors as ambulances rushed injured to nearby hospitals amid heavy monsoon rains and fears of Covid-19 infections.
There are believed to have been up to around 125 people in the building at the time it caved in
(Image: REUTERS)
Rescue workers search for more survivors with around 30 people still believed to be trapped in the rubble
(Image: REUTERS)
Building collapses are common in India as bulldozers work through the debris in a bid to find more survivors
(Image: REUTERS)
Authorities have yet to ascertain the cause of the collapse, while three teams from the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed to the site.
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has assured the local administration of all possible support for speedy rescue and relief work, his office said on Twitter.
Building collapses are common in India, usually due to shoddy construction, substandard materials and disregard of regulations, typically during torrential rain.
Families anxiously called out the names of their relatives as rescuers desperately searched for survivors
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Rescuers combed through tin sheets, metal rods and other debris as the search for survivors was ramped up
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Every year, heavy downpours during the June to September monsoon season bring down rain-sodden small and large structures deemed too dangerous to live in.
More than 1,200 people were killed in 1,161 building collapses across India in 2017, according to latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau.
Sourse: www.mirror.co.uk
