At least nine people died after a four-storey building collapsed late on Thursday night in Bhiwandi, in Maharashtra’s Thane district, leaving several people trapped under the debris, officials said. Rescue teams recovered nine bodies, while more people are feared buried beneath the debris.
Event Context
The four-storey Kohinoor Building in Balaji Nagar had already been declared unsafe by the Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation (BNMC), fire officials said. Although the structure had been marked as dangerous, repair work was in progress when it collapsed, HT reported earlier.
In a statement, the Thane collectorate said search and rescue operations are being carried out with the help of trained sniffer dogs.
Team Analysis
Two ambulances and a JCB excavator were also deployed as teams continue searching for people believed to be trapped under the collapsed structure.
Rescue efforts, along with other required administrative procedures, are still underway. Officials have not yet confirmed the exact reason behind the collapse.
With this incident, the death toll from rain-related incidents in Thane district during the current monsoon has risen to at least 27, while 20 others have been injured, officials told news agency PTI.
The collapse took place just weeks after another deadly incident in Maharashtra’s Pimpri Chinchwad. On July 8, a garbage heap caved in onto a building at the Moshi garbage depot, leaving nine people dead.
(With inputs from Kaptan Mali)
