Thane: The death toll has gone to six on Sunday evening in a three-storey building that collapsed on Saturday, April 29 in the Walpada area of Bhiwandi. At least 10 people have been injured in this incident and still, 8-9 people are trapped under the debris. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Thane Disaster Response Force (TDRF) are continuing the operation to search for them.
MRK Foods have its office and godown on the ground floor and the first floor of the building in Wardhaman Compound while there were flats on the second and third floor. Some tenant families lived in this building. Slab construction was up to two floors, while sheets were installed on the third floor. On Saturday at around 1.45 pm, 70 per cent of the building collapsed.
After receiving information about the incident, teams of NDRF, TDRF, Bhiwandi-Nizampura Municipal Corporation (BNMC) fire brigade, and Thane City and Rural Police rushed to the spot. Doctors from Thane government hospital are present for medical help said a Thane government hospital surgeon Dr. Kailash Pawar. Pawar has also ordered to initiate a special ward at Indira Gandhi Hospital in Bhiwandi for the treatment of the injured. A separate room for treatment has also been started in the district hospital.
Owner of the building detained
Madan Ballal, senior police inspector, Narpoli police station said, " We have detained the collapsed building owner Indrapal Patil. Also, the search is on as to who was the construction contractor of this building."
The six deceased have been identified as Navnath Sawant (40), Laxmidevi Ravi Mohoto (26), Sona Mukesh Kori (4), Sudhakar Gawai (34), Praveen Pramod Chaudhari (22) and Triveni Yadav (40).
Navnath Sawant a truck driver died while starting his truck. Sawant had come under the building to take the goods from the warehouse of MRK Foods here to another place by truck. The accident happened suddenly when the truck was starting after loading the goods.
The injured have been identified as Sonali Parameshwara Kamble (22), Shiv Kumar Kamble (2.6), Mukhtar Roshan Mansuri (26), Chiku Ravi Mohto (5), Prince Ravi Mohto (3), Vikas Kumar Mukesh Rajbhar (18), Udayabhan Muniram Yadav (25), Anita (30 ), Ujjwala Kamble (30) and Sunil Pisal (42).
While Lalita Ravi Mohoto died in the accident but two of his children named Chiku Mohoto (5) and Prince Mohoto (3) survived.
Parameshwara Kamble has been living on the second floor of the building for the past one year. He is a driver in a company. He went to work on Saturday morning. At that time, his wife Sonali (22) and son Shivkumar Kamble (two and a half years old) were in the house. These two were trapped under the debris. Sonali took Shivakumar and started trying to get out of the debris. When Sonali saw the rays while coming out of the debris she and the child came out safely.
Sunil Pisal (42) who was stuck in the debris was rescued after 19 hours of rescue operation. When Pisal was brought out safely he thanked the NDRF and TDRF team. As it was his birthday on April 30 he said that he got his second life.
Mobile Tower load reason for building collapse
One of the officers from Bhiwandi-Nizampura Municipal Corporation said, " The exact cause of the collapse of this building is yet to be known, but there was a huge mobile tower on the three-storey standalone building and that too without the permission. Also, a few tenants from the building have done the extra construction and adding a few more rooms puts an extra load on the building. The main reason behind the building collapse would be the additional load on it."
Rescue operation delayed due to a traffic jam
As repair work is going on at Khadi Bridge at Saket and Kharegaon Tollnaka on Nashik Highway. Therefore, traffic of heavy vehicles started from Kalher, and Kasheli areas in the afternoon. After the accident, the rescue teams left for Bhiwandi from Thane. But, due to the traffic jam in this area, it was difficult for the teams to reach in time. Ambulances were also getting stuck in traffic while the rescue operation was underway. While solving this traffic jam, the police had come to the rescue. Union Minister Kapil Patil and Collector Ashok Shingre were also present when the rescue operation was underway.
