12, including 8 children, killed in Mumbai building collapse

A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, under relevant sections of the IPC , has been registered by the Malwani Police against the owner of the collapsed building, Rizwan Siddique, who owns a food stall in Malad.

At least 12 people, including eight children, were killed and seven others injured after two floors of a ground-plus-three-floor residential building collapsed on an adjoining two-storey house at Malwani in Malad, officials said on Thursday. Of the 12 dead, nine, including six children, belonged to one family. According to residents, 10 of the 12 killed were from the four-storey house, while two dead and all seven injured were from the other building.

According to officials, the four-storey Malwani structure had two families residing in it, while the two-storey house had three families.

A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, under relevant sections of the IPC , has been registered by the Malwani Police against the owner of the collapsed building, Rizwan Siddique, who owns a food stall in Malad. The contractor, Ramzan Nabi Shaikh, was also booked and later arrested.

The incident took place around 11pm on Wednesday, following the first downpour of the monsoon, at the New Collector Compound on Abdul Hamid Road, civic officials said, adding that three floors of the building that collapsed partially were illegal as permission was only for a ground-level structure.

Malwani, one of the major slum clusters in Mumbai, has several such two-, three-storey illegal houses, which are not properly built reinforced cement concrete (RCC) structures, but load-bearing ones (built with iron beams). Building collapses are common in India during the June-September monsoon season when heavy rains weaken the foundations of structures that are poorly built

According to officials, the four-storey Malwani structure had two families residing in it, while the two-storey house had three families. Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) officials said at least 25 people were staying in the two structures. The MFB’s search operations went for over 12 hours till 1pm on Thursday. The residents included owners of the house and their tenants. The four-storey structure had suffered damage in cyclone Tauktae, which passed close to the Mumbai coast last month.

The deceased are Sahil Sayyed, 9; Arifa Shaikh, 9; Tausif Siddiqui, 15; Aalish Siddiqui, 10; Alfisa Siddiqui, 18 months; Afina Siddiqui, 6; Tahes Siddiqui, 12; Jhon Irrana, 13; Shafiq Siddiqui, 45; Ishrat Siddiqui, 40; Rahisa Bano Siddiqui, 40; and an unidentified 60-year-old male. The injured are Gulzar Ansari, 26; Karim Khan, 30; Suryamani Yadav, 39; Rizwana Sayyad, 33; Salim Shaikh, 49; Dhanalaxmi Baby , 56; and Marikumari Hirangana, 30, whose condition is critical.

Rubina Shaikh, a 50-year-old who resided in the two storey structure, said, “It was around 11pm when I was cooking dinner for my two children when something fell on me. Even before I could understand what was happening, I was buried under debris. Thankfully, my two children were outside the house. They rescued me from the debris,” She was rushed to the local health post of the civic body, where she was treated for minor injuries and sent home. Similar to Shaikh, most residents were buried under the debris even before they could understand what happened.

The MFB received a call around 11.45pm on Wednesday and they reached the spot within 15 minutes. According to MFB officials, the ground-plus-three structure collapsed on the house opposite it. It also damaged two more houses adjacent to the one that collapsed. At least 70 fire personnel were involved in the search and rescue operations.

An MFB official said, “The rescue and search operations were conducted for over 12 hours till 1pm on Thursday. We rescued everyone by 1am itself, but we had unconfirmed reports of a girl being trapped inside. Hence, we continued the search operations till Thursday afternoon, but did not find anyone. The location made the rescue operation difficult as it is a slum with narrow and congested roads.”

The official added, “The difficulty in carrying out search operations was such that we took time to have machinery on spot for the search operations as the lane leading to the building was very narrow, barely 10 feet wide.” The 12th victim was found around 5pm after most of the debris was cleared.

Dr Pratima Patil, chief medical officer of Shatabdi Hospital, said, “The 12th body was of a 60-year-old male brought to us post 5pm.”

Local residents alleged that the owner of the four-storey house did not take it seriously even as the structure was shaking when there were gusty winds and heavy rains a few days ago.

“Residents felt that the building was shaking when there was heavy rainfall and gusty winds during the cyclone. Had the owners paid heed to their complaints that time, this incident could have been averted,” said Mohmmad Momin, a local resident.

Joint police commissioner (law and order) Vishwas Nangare Patil, who spoke to reporters at the collapse site on Thursday, confirmed the same. Patil told reporters, “It is a very unfortunate incident. The structure was illegally constructed. It seemed to have suffered structural damage during the cyclone a few days ago. If proper action was taken at that time, this incident could have been avoided. We are taking legal action and going to book the contractor and owner who did the repair work.”

The Maharashtra government has announced ₹5 lakh ex-gratia for the family of the deceased and ₹50,000 for those injured in the collapse. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, in a statement, also said the cost of the treatment will be covered by the state government.

Tausif Shaikh, whose mother Rubina was rescued, said, “We were asked to go back home after my mother’s treatment, but we have no roof to go to. We lost our father a few years back and since over one year we are just sitting at home due to no work because of lockdown. I do not understand how we will rebuild our house now.”

As the search and rescue operations ended by Thursday afternoon in this densely populated pocket of the suburb, the blame game began. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) blamed the Shiv Sena-led Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), while the city mayor Kishori Pednekar, who is from the Sena, said that the structure that collapsed was on the plot of the suburban collectorate, which falls under the revenue department.

BMC officials said the building was located on collector’s land, and it was the collector’s responsibility to take action against illegal buildings. Bharat Marathe, deputy municipal commissioner of the BMC, said, “All the structures or buildings were on collector’s land, and it was for the suburban collector to act against the illegalities. We were giving all cooperation and support to the suburban collector as and when required.”

Marathe added, “What we know is that in 1976, there was a scheme of the state government under which citizens were given permission to construct ground-level houses, but all such beneficiaries over the years constructed illegal floors on the structure. Whenever suburban collectors issued notices, we had given them manpower support for demolition.”

Meanwhile, civic authorities vacated the adjoining houses as a precaution.

According to MFB officials, there are three-four buildings near this structure that have been damaged due to collapse or look to be in dangerous condition. For this, they have requested the BMC to vacate and conduct a structural audit to demolish buildings wherever necessary. Marathe added, “We are going to have a survey conducted for the entire area and wherever defects are found in the structure, a notice will be issued. We will help the suburban collector office in doing the same.”

Contrary to the MFB’s claim that it reached in 15 minutes, locals claimed that authorities came almost one hour after the incident. Mohmmad Rafique, a resident of the area, said, “The collapse took place around 10.45 pm only and we locals were the first one to rescue people out. The fire brigade came almost an hour after the incident.”

While several residents lost everything in the incident, Mohammad Asif, who resided in an adjacent building, said, “I along with my family vacated our building considering the nearby building had collapsed. After we vacated the building, we had requested the fire brigade to allow us access to our house for collecting cash, gold and documents but we are not being allowed. They want to demolish our building, citing it is dangerous but what about our cash, gold and documents? How will we get it back? The authorities have no answer.”

Meanwhile, mayor Kishori Pednekar, who visited the spot, said, “We do not want to go into which authority is supposed to be acting on such illegal structures, but we will now rectify all such structures and bring a solution. We have also announced free treatment for those who were injured in the incident and Rs5 lakh compensation for the families of those who lost their family members.”

Later, Dr Pratima Patil said two injured ran away from the hospital when they were sent for X-rays. The hospital has informed the police. “They had minor injuries. But as per protocol, we have informed the police. They might have got scared and ran away,” said Dr Patil.