Mumbai: For years, hundreds of families had lived on the vulnerable hillock in Ashok Nagar, Ghatkopar, with little choice despite the looming risk. But for the Shaikh family, the tragedy came just three days after they moved into a rented home there, hoping for a fresh start. Four members of the family were killed when the hillside collapsed in the early hours, burying their new home under tonnes of debris. Another victim, a young professional, had arrived in the area only hours before the landslide while looking for a stronger mobile network to finish his office work. What was meant to be a brief stop turned into a fatal tragedy.
New Beginning Ends In Tragedy
In the early hours of Wednesday, as Mumbai remained in the grip of a wet spell, residents of landslide-prone Ashok Nagar were jolted awake by the deafening sound of boulders and debris crashing down the hillside. The settlement, home to around 1,000 residents, was engulfed in panic as the landslide struck. Among those caught in the tragedy was the Shaikh family, which had arrived in Mumbai only on Sunday hoping for a fresh start. Arif Shaikh, a tailor, had moved to Ashok Nagar in Ghatkopar West with his wife Marjina and their two young children, Mannat and Aban. His sister Rubina was already living in the area. Within just three days, however, their hopes of a new beginning were buried beneath the debris.
Father Waits At Rajawadi Hospital
At Rajawadi Hospital, Arif’s father, who lives in Titwala, was inconsolable at the postmortem centre after losing his son, daughter-in-law and two young grandchildren. Originally from Jaunpur, the family had come to Mumbai seeking a better life and a secure future for their children. Arif, a tailor, was hopeful of finding work and building a stable life, while his homemaker wife, Marjina, was also looking for odd jobs to support the family financially. Relatives have requested that the bodies of all four family members be taken to their native village in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, for the last rites. Police are assisting the family with the necessary permissions and formalities to transport the bodies.
Birthday Turns Into Day Of Loss For Yadav Family
For Viket alias Rahul Yadav, Wednesday was supposed to be a day of celebration. Instead, it became the day his family lost its eldest son. Viket, who worked from home, had recently shifted to a rented house three to four homes away within the same chawl. As the new house did not have a Wi-Fi connection, he had been working from the affected house, which had an internet connection, along with his friend Saddam, a relative said. Viket’s mother, Chaya Yadav, said she had raised her three sons through domestic work after her husband died when they were young. As the eldest, Viket began supporting the family as soon as he was able to work. “It was his birthday today. His younger brother Yogesh had bought him a shirt as a gift,” she said.
Yogesh, overcome with grief, recalled his brother’s constant support. “My elder brother was always there for me. He would always tell me, ‘I will always support you; just don’t do anything wrong,’” he said.
Mohammed Shahid, a resident of the affected chawl, said he had been living there with his father, Mohammed Ismail Shaikh, younger brother and uncle for the past six years and had never witnessed anything similar. “We had dinner and went to sleep. Around 3.30 am, we heard a sound like a bomb blast. When we rushed outside, we saw two to three houses beside ours buried under debris. We woke up people in the neighbourhood and began helping with the rescue,” he said.
A large boulder also came crashing down when a section of the hill collapsed but was stopped by a peepal tree behind the affected house, preventing what could have been an even bigger disaster. A rescue official said the boulder would be broken into smaller pieces using a breaker and removed after the rescue operation is completed.
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