Live: Death toll in Thane building collapse reaches 47

10.37 pm: Death toll reaches 47

More bodies were pulled out of the massive debris of the seven-storey illegal under-construction building that collapsed in Thane taking the death toll to 47 today. A deputy municipal commissioner and senior police inspector were suspended.

Heartbreaking tales like a male survivor losing 13 of his family members unfolded, as rescuers armed with sensor-fitted equipment still looked for survivors and bodies in the debris of bricks, mortar and twisted steel, a day after the collapse at Shil-Phata in Daighar in Mumbra.

The death toll has gone up to 44 while 53 were injured in the incident, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said, replying to a discussion on the building collapse in the Legislative Assembly.

Chavan told the House that an additional chief secretary level enquiry has been ordered. The dead included nine women and 11 children, Thane Civic Corporation sources said.

The injured have been admitted to hospitals in Thane, Kalwa and Mumbra and the seriously injured were shifted to JJ and Sion Hospitals in Mumbai.

A case has been registered against builders Salil and Khalil Jamadar under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of IPC, Thane Commissioner of Police K P Raghuvanshi said, adding the two were absconding.

Chavan, who visited the site of the building collapse, said the deputy municipal commissioner concerned and senior police inspector have been suspended.

Alok Awasthi, Commandant of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), which has been pressed into service to assist the local police and civic administration in rescue efforts, said 59 persons had been pulled out alive but some more survivors could still be trapped under the debris.

Awasthi said though he was not an engineer, the poor quality of construction was primarily responsible for the tragedy. "I am not an engineer or a building expert but poor quality of construction and material, besides non-adherence to construction norms for high-rise building has caused this tragedy," Awasthi said.

The structure, which according to locals had come up in just two months, had come down crashing in a heap around 6.30 pm yesterday in one of worst building collapses in Maharashtra.

Cranes were being used to remove the rubble, floor-by-floor, to trace the survivors with the help of life detector sensors which could pick up signals from possible survivors from 70 metre deep, Awasthi said.

State-of-the-art equipment fitted with thermal cameras were being inserted into the wreckage after making holes to locate survivors and extricate them with gas cutters, said Awasthi, whose team of 90 men is working round-the-clock, at the scene of the incident.

The Chief Minister was in for a surprise when some of the survivors at Chhatrapati Shivaji Memorial Hospital at Kalwa told him that they were living in the building for free as the builders were using them as shield against demolition in case civic authorities decided to pull it down for lack of clearances.

The occupants were to have vacated the building once full payment had been received from the original owners.

Imran Siddiqui, 37, had come from Delhi with dream of a better life, lost his wife Shakila, who was eight months pregnant, to the tragedy. He lived in the ill-fated structure with his wife and around 15 of his cousins, 12 of whom are dead.

The tragedy has left Imran so shocked that he was unable to remember the names of his relatives who perished.

"Hamare to sabhi log chale gaye. Ma, baap bhai behan, and bibi bhi. Muje kuch madad karo naa," (I have lost my entire family including my wife...Please help me) Siddqui urged Chavan when visited the patients.

PTI

6.16 pm: Maharashtra CM order probe

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has ordered a probe into the collapse of the building in Thane and two officials have also been suspended in connection with the accident that killed many, reported Times Now.

The Deputy Commissioner of Thane municipal corporation has been suspended for negligence.

Chavan said that a probe will be conducted by the Additional Chief Secretary.

6.02 pm: Death toll rises to 42

Death toll in the Thane building collapse rose to 42, as firefighters and locals continued to pull out people from under the rubble of the building.

An IBN-Live report said quoted the Thane Deputy Collector as saying that the dead included nine children and five women and over 30 people have sustained serious injuries in the incident.

The rescue operations have been on last evening when the building collapsed.

1. 40 pm: Fire-department ill-equipped to deal with crisis?

The rescue operations are being hampered due to severe shortage of fire stations in the area, reports CNN-IBN. Sources  told the channel that the fire department is ill-equipped to deal with such a massive a building collapse.

Most of the fire stations across Maharashtra are grappling with a severe deficiency of advanced equipment and training

1. 30pm: More than 100 people still trapped under debris?

Reports say the number of people still trapped under the debris could be more than 100.  Rescuers scrambled through the night to save people feared trapped under the debris and the rescue operations are still on. (Check the images here)

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan visited the collapse site today.

1. 20 pm: Rescue workers recover 34 bodies from under the debris

Rescue efforts in the Shil Phata area of Thane district continued Friday with rescuers so far recovering 34 bodies from under the debris of an unauthorised seven-storey building that collapsed. Another 64 people bearing injuries, mostly critical, were rescued after the Thursday evening collapse.

"The death toll has shot up to 34, while 64 people have been injured... and many of them are in critical condition. Of the dozens brought to hospitals last (Thursday) night, 17 have been discharged," a Thane disaster management official told reporters.

On Friday morning, rescue workers extricated five minors alive but injured with hundreds of onlookers cheering the rescue effort. The survival of the children was seen as something of a miracle as they were rescued nearly 12 hours after the building collapsed 6.30 p.m. Thursday.

Police have lodged cases against the developers of the seven-storey building, Salil Jamadar and Khalil Jamadar, who are reported to be absconding along with their families.

Officials said the building was raised within four months and had been functional since December.

As a precautionary measure, another adjacent building, also developed by the Jamadars, was evacuated Thursday night.

Top police, fire brigade, civic and disaster management officials were present at the scene of the tragedy as relief operations continued Friday.

Municipal Commissioner R.A. Rajeev and District Collector P. Velarasu were supervising relief operations.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar are likely to visit the collapse site.

11. 00 am: Is corruption to blame for Thane building collapse?

Not just the authorities; how could no citizen from the area have noticed it being built, and, if they did, why did they not complain or draw the media’s attention to the infraction?

People were living in the building, there was a coaching class on the second floor. How did the building get water and electricity connections?

The entire incident reeks of corruption at many levels and in many departments. Read more here.

4 April: 10.35 pm: Six dead, including pregnant woman

At least six persons, including a pregnant woman, were killed and twenty others injured when an under-construction building collapsed in Shil Phata area of the city this evening, police said.

A massive rescue operation was underway, and by late evening, bodies of five men and a pregnant woman had been recovered from the debris, they said.

Fire brigade personnel with the help of locals search for survivors in a building which collapsed in Thane, Mumbai on Thursday. PTI

The seven-storey building in Shil Dhaigar locality was unauthorised, civic officials said, adding that it was occupied up to at least the fourth floor. The incident took place at around 6.30 pm.

Deputy Collector Manoj Gohad said several persons could still be trapped under the debris.

Municipal Commissioner R A Rajeev and District Collector P Velarasu were supervising the relief operations.

The injured have been shifted to various hospitals in the city.

PTI

8.24 pm: Three people dead in building collapse
An IBN-Live report suggests that three people have died in the building collapse. Many are still stuck under the debris of the five story building that collapsed, the reason of which is still not known.

8.10 pm: Around 50 allegedly pulled out, 6 may have died

Around fifty people have been pulled out of the debris, and allegedly around fifty more are feared stuck in the debris, reported Times Now. Of the fifty who have been rescued, six are feared to have succumbed to their injuries. But the number of deaths is not yet confirmed.

Police, firefighters and local people have all been trying to take the injured out of the debris. Fifty more are said to be stuck in the debris.

7.58 pm: Many still strapped inside

A Times Now reporter says that the extent of the debris is extensive, and it will take a long time to clear it. Though 17 people have been taken out of the debris, many are feared trapped inside.

A seven storey new building reportedly collapsed in the Mumbra area of Thane District on Thursday evening and many people are feared trapped in the debris.

Television reports on Times Now, say 24 people have been injured in the collapse. However the number of people who are stuck in the debris or killed is still not clear. From the video images, it does not look like a partial collapse but it appears that the entire building has collapsed. The building is believed to be a new construction and is only a year old, say the reports.

According to a Zee News report, rescue operations are on,and both the fire brigade and police have reached the spot.

There is no report on the cause of the collapse and more details are awaited.