Mumbai: At least four persons were killed in rain-related incidents in Mumbai while a search was on for a boy who was washed away, officials said on Thursday.
Torrential rains battered Mumbai and surrounding areas on Tuesday night and Wednesday. Two sanitation workers of the BMC lost their lives while on duty in Goregaon on Wednesday.
They have been identified as Vijayendra Sardar Bagdi, 36, and Jagdish Badha Parmar, 54, who were attached to the P/S Ward of the BMC and were working to ensure that floodwater is pumped out, the police said.
The two apparently drowned, though further inquiries are under way. On Wednesday, incessant rain left many areas in Mumbai waterlogged.
Workers of the BMC's solid waste management department and hydraulic department were on their toes. Waterlogging was reported near Siddharth Hospital at Goregaon. Bagdi and Parmar had been working to clear the gutters in the area.
Parmar reportedly suffered a heart attack on Wednesday afternoon and was rushed to Kapadia Hospital nearby. Locals said Bagdi fell in the water and they rescued him.
He was rushed to the trauma care centre in Jogeshwari but both men were declared dead on arrival. The president of the Municipal Workers' Union, Sukhdev Kashid, met Additional Municipal Commissioner Milind Sawant on Thursday and demanded an inquiry into the two deaths and compensation for the kin of the deceased, said union secretary Pravin Manjalkar.
In another drowning incident on Wednesday, a youth identified as Shahrukh Shaikh, 24, drowned in Mahim Creek while wading through floodwater with two friends at Bharatnagar, near the Bandra-Kurla Complex. He was pulled out by rescue teams but died in hospital.
In another incident, the body of a 60-year-old man was found near Hindmata in Dadar, which was later identified as that of Ashok Dattaram Mayekar.
The body has been sent to King Edward Hospital for post-mortem. The police are investigating the cause of his death. Meanwhile, a boy and his three friends jumped into the swollen Mithi River near Bandra Kurla Complex for a swim on Wednesday at 6.30am.
The other three boys managed to get to the shore but one of them is still missing. Divers from the Navy were taking part in the search operation for the boy, the police said.
