Mumbai: 35 rescued as ceiling of building collapses in Fort

The Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) on Friday morning rescued 35 people after part of a ceiling in ground-plus-four building collapsed in south Mumbai’s Fort Area

The Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) on Friday morning rescued 35 people after part of a ceiling in ground-plus-four building collapsed in south Mumbai’s Fort Area. No injuries were reported.

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The building was around 60-years old and the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) had given permission to the building for carrying out repair works.

A Mhada official said, “There are around 50 tenants including commercial and residential. The building was over 60-year-old and we had given permission for conducting repair works. We will verify whether the repair work, which is ongoing, is being done as per the permission and if it caused the collapse.”

Arun Dongre, chief of Mhada’s repair board, said, “The building was not a dilapidated structure and is identified as an A category building in our list. The structure was in a very good condition and we had given permission for repair works.”

Local Shiv Sena corporator Sujata Sanap said, “A slab collapsed on the third floor around 6.45am. However, no-one was injured in the incident. We vacated all residents due to safety reasons. All commercial tenants are safe as shops were shut early in the morning.”

According to MFB officials, initially 20 persons were rescued and later another 15 persons were vacated safely using the window as the staircase area was blocked. The rescue and evacuation operations were completed by noon, and the work of removing of debris is ongoing.

Meanwhile, earlier this month Mhada had declared that in its pre-monsoon survey, 21 of the 14,755 dilapidated buildings in the island city are “extremely dangerous”. It has asked the residents living in the 21 structures to immediately vacate their houses.