3 from UP killed in Navi Mumbai building crash; 52 escape narrowly

Navi Mumbai: Three persons from Uttar Pradesh were killed while around 52 others had a narrow escape after a ground-plus three-storey building crashed at Belapur town in Navi Mumbai early on Saturday morning.

The tragedy occurred at around 4.30 a.m. when the residents were sleeping in their homes in the 10-year-old Indira Nivas building in Shahbazgaon, said senior inspector Satish Kadam from the NRI Sagari police station.

Later in the afternoon, the rescue teams dug out the bodies of the three youths hailing from Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur and Pratapgad districts, he added.

The deceased have been identified as Mohammed Meraj Altaf Hussain (30) from Karanpur in Pratapgad, and two from Lohinda village in Jaunpur district, Shafiq A.R. Ansari (29) and Miraj Saif Ansari (24), said Kadam.

Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the rescue teams were engaged in making efforts to evacuate at least two persons who were still trapped under the debris, while the survivors were housed at a shelter of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC).

Minutes before the collapse, the residents were rudely awakened by tremors, rumbling sounds, and rattling of household articles, said one of the survivors.

Anticipating a potential disaster, most residents rushed out of their homes and shortly afterward, the entire structure with 13 houses and three shops collapsed.

Many of the survivors said they lost everything in the disaster at the height of the monsoon.

Police teams, fire brigade, SDRF, and NDRF are still engaged in clearing the rubble and searching for any others who may be buried under the debris.

After nearly four hours of effort, two of the survivors — Lalauddin N. Pathan (23) and Ruksar L. Pathan (19) — were dug out of the rubble in an injured condition and rushed to a nearby hospital.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who was in New Delhi on Saturday, called up the NMMC Commissioner and the Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner, asking them to take stringent action against the culprits responsible for the huge mishap.

The CM also asked them to take full care of the survivors who are housed in a shelter, including their lodging and boarding and other needs, even as intermittent rains lashed Navi Mumbai and its surroundings.

IANS