Raigad: Two persons have died and 18 still feared trapped under the debris after a five-storey building collapsed in a residential area of Mahad in Raigad district, an official said on Tuesday.

The incident took place on Monday evening in the Kajalpura area of the town.
The local administration, including the police and fire brigade, is currently carrying out search and rescue operation.

"Search and rescue operation continues at the spot where a building collapsed in Kajalpura area of Raigad district last evening. Two deaths have been reported so far, 18 still feared trapped," said Raigad District Collector Nidhi Chaudhari.

Three teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are also present at the spot to carry out rescue operations.

Meanwhile, NDRF Director General Satya Pradhan gave an update about Raigad building collapse on his Twitter handle and wrote: "NDRF teams on the site; carrying out SAR operation; with all special equipment; canine Squad being used; NDRF Commandant monitoring real-time."

Maharashtra Ministers Aditi Tatkare and Eknath Shinde visited the spot to review the rescue operations last evening.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah directed the Director-General (DG), NDRF to provide all possible assistance for rescue operations at the incident site.