Toll rises to 29 as building collapses in Mumbai

July 19: The death toll increases to 29 today as a residential building in northwestern suburb in Mumbai partially collapsed yesterday at 5:30 in the evening.

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Seventeen wounded were rescued so far and still many more are feared to be trapped in the debris, according to police.

A portion of the 20-year-old (seven storey includes ground floor) Laxmi Chhaya building at Babhai Naka in suburban Borivali collapsed partially on Wednesday in which mostly shop keepers and some customers were trapped in the debris as there was a jewellery shop on the ground floor of the collapsed building. The rescue operation is still going on and hope to be continues till tomorrow for seeing the measure of the debris. Only 40 percent of the debris has been cleaned so far and 29 dead bodies include 13 women and five children have dug out from the debris.

"Many are feared to be still trapped under the debris but there is still no definite number and rescue efforts could take up to two days," an official said. “The rescue operation is going on at a slow speed to prevent harm to those trapped under the debris”, fire service officials said.

Just after the accident, the fire brigade, ambulance, rescue operators and bulldozers were rushed to the accident spot and the rescue process began in hope to save alive those who are buried in the rubble, but only one person found alive out of eight which pulled out today morning. The injured are being treated in nearby Bhagwati Hospital.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had announced a magisterial probe of this accident when he visited at the sight yesterday while his deputy and home minister R R Patil had ensured the public to provide compensation to the next of kin of the victims.

Though the reason of the collapse is under testing, yet Prima-facie, a civic body had assumed that the collapse might be due to major structural changes carried out by a Jewellery shop on the ground floor.