Building collapse kills 1, injures 8 in Bhiwandi

A residential structure collapsed in Bhiwandi on Tuesday morning, killing a senior citizen and injuring eight of a family. The Bhoiwada police registered an accidental death report after the incident as the family had received several notices from the municipal corporation to vacate it.

The house, which is located in Tandel Mohalla, came crashing down at around 5 am on Tuesday when its occupants, all members of a family, were asleep, the police said.

Officials added that 12 relatives lived in this structure. Two of the residents were awoken by a noise and they woke everyone up after they saw that the structure had tilted to the left side. Eleven family members hurriedly tried to exit the structure as it collapsed, and eight were injured; whereas 70-year-old Abdul Fakaih could not manage to escape and died.

The residents immediately called the police and fire brigade after the incident after which firemen and a team from the Bhoiwada police station rushed to carry out rescue operations. They pulled out nine people from under the debris and sent them to the IGM government hospital in Bhiwandi. They are out of danger, the police said. Bhiwandi tehsildar Vaishali Lambate said the house, a “load bearing structure”, was over 40 years old and listed among dilapidated and dangerous buildings by the civic body. We have sent so many notices to them to vacant the building, but they didn’t reply to any of them. We had tried our best to help the victims.”