Twenty six people lost their lives in the Bhiwandi building collapse

Another 10 bodies pulled out on Tuesday raises the toll death to 26 dead including 11 children, 25 injured and rescued in the Bhiwandi building collapse

@NarendraJourno1

Bhiwandi: Another ten bodies were pulled out from debris on Tuesday taking the death toll to 26 dead which includes 11 children. Twenty five people sustained injuries after the 34 year old three-storied Jilani apartment building collapsed at Dhamankar Naka area of Bhiwandi city near Mumbai.

Twenty-six people died including 11 children (aged 2 to 16 years), while 25 others sustained injuries and were rescued by a team of NDRF, TDRF and local fire brigade, informed by an official of Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC).

According to an official of NDRF said that during the wee hours of Tuesday (early morning), nearly four bodies were pulled out from the debris. 

The locals said that there might be 10 to 12 people trapped under the rubbles.

Ashish Kumar, Deputy Commandant, MMR region said, “We have three teams deployed here to rescue the trapped people. We are still working on the night by Monday. Now, we started to remove the debris with the help of two JCB and poke lane machines. He further said that at least one and two days is likely to remove the debris. Authorities managed to rescue 25 persons with the help of locals, NDRF, TDRF and local fire bridge team. 

The dead bodies were taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGM) hospital, later handed over to family members for final rites. The several families are waiting to find their members who are trapped under the debris. The civic officials said that the smell of decomposed bodies has been emanating from the debris.

The relatives and family members have pulled out the household stuff from debris and are trying to get the significant document.

Jilani Apartment was constructed in the year of 1984 and the 36-year-old building was a ground plus three-storied building. There were 17 flats on each floor of the building. A total of 51 flats were built by the builder Sayyed Jilani. 

The ground floor of the building had a full set up power loom and the remaining building was residential. The half portion of the building came crashing down at around 3.45 pm on Monday. The residents on the floors above were fast asleep while the workers in the power loom on the ground floor managed to escape without giving any intimation to any residents above, said Ibrahim Ansari (22), who resides at the third floor.

Also Read: A father put his life at risk to save his toddler son even as the building was shaking

A total of 24 flats which is a half portion of the structure of the building have collapsed and the remaining part which is left standing is in a dangerous condition now. The building was adjacent to another ground plus three-storied building, the civic body has now evacuated all residential from there. Nearly two residential buildings which were occupied surrounding the collapsed building were evacuated by the civic body. Arrangements for the stay of the victims of a collapsed building were made at a nearby madrassa. The locals are providing breakfast to the affected family members.

Monday night, nearly four to five buildings surrounding the Patel compound were evacuated due to weak and dilapidated conditions, said a civic official. 

In August 2016, there were two sorrowful Sunday’s in Bhiwandi. On August 8, Mahadev Gupta building collapsed killing eight people while several others were injured. On August 1, 2016, another Kabir Sheth building collapsed killing eight people and left 22 injured. –By Narendra Gupta