Mumbai: Three persons from a family died after a portion of the Trimurti Chawl, Vakola, Santacruz east collapsed on Tuesday morning around 10.30 am due to the torrential rains. The roof of a one storey chawl, adjacent to Vakola nullah caved in because of the heavy rains and gusty winds. The roof came crashing down on four people. They victims fell in the nullah below. They were swept away by the heavy current.
Fire brigade officials said the woman and three girls fell in the drain after two structures adjoining the drain collapsed in the torrential downpour.
Of the three toddler girls, one was rescued by local residents before the arrival of the Fire Brigade and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). The rescued toddler Shivnya Kakade (3) was rushed to a nearby hospital.
The fire brigade initiated search operations and rescued her sister Jahnvi (2) in the afternoon. They rushed her to the hospital but she was declared dead on arrival. The fire brigade personnel found their mother Rekha Milind Kakade’s (28) body in the evening. However, the rescue team could not find the body of her daughter Shreya (5) in the nullah till late evening. The fire brigade officials and NDRF teams called off the operation due to water current, darkness and heavy rain.
Mumbai CFO Prabhat Rahangdale said that there is a chance that her (Shreya) body may have been swept away due to the strong water current in the open nullah.
Sada Parab, Shiv Sena corporator from Vakola said that the house was adjacent to the nullah. “One of the bodies was rescued in the afternoon, while the mother's body was found in the evening. One more body is yet to be found.”
