Thane building collapse toll rises to 45

Thane (Maharashtra) : Even as the death toll in Thursday evening’s seven-storey building collapse rose to 45, disaster management and fire brigade officials Friday continued rescue operations, 22 hours after the tragedy.

“The death toll has shot up to 45, while over 50 people are injured, many of them critically. Out of the dozens that were brought in (to hospital) Thursday night, 17 have been discharged,” a Thane disaster management official told IANS.

“We are trying to pull out as many people as possible from the rubble. However, it has been difficult to identify many of them. We have pulled out many children too,” he added.

At least 10 children have succumbed to their injuries in the incident, police said.

As rescue operations continued, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Home Minister R.R. Patil visited the spot.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) legislator from the area Ramesh Patil alleged that the municipal commissioner did not pay heed to his complaints about the building being unauthorised and unfit for occupation.

While civic officials admitted that the building was illegal, they shifted the blame to builders who, they claimed, went ahead with the construction despite not having relevant permissions.

Civic sources also said that sub-standard material was used in construction of the building and that it had no occupancy certificate.

Officials said the building was raised within four months and had been functional since December.

As a precautionary measure, another adjacent building, also developed by the same builders, was evacuated Thursday night.

Around 35 families were residing in the building.

Local activist Mangal Patil had also registered repeated complaints with the Thane Municipal Corporation about the unauthorised structure, but to no avail. Speaking to mediapersons, Mangal Patil claimed that there were over 100 such buildings in the area.

A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder has been registered against the two builders, Jamil Qureshi and Salim Shaikh, who have reportedly gone underground.
Photo : AFP