10-year-old dies after wall collapses in Bhiwandi due to heavy rains

The victim, identified as Mohmmad Husain Irfan Ansari, was playing with his 14-year-old friend at Dargah Road in Gauri Pada, Bhiwandi, police officials said, adding that the 14-year-old playmate, who is yet to be identified, sustained minor injuries in the incident

BHIWANDI: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) on Sunday saw yet another death due to incessant rains as a ten-year-old boy was killed after the wall of the sizing unit of a powerloom collapsed in Bhiwandi.

(HT PHOTO)

A sizing unit is a separate unit where the thread used in a powerloom is processed and strengthened before it is used in cloth weaving.

The victim, identified as Mohmmad Husain Irfan Ansari, was playing with his 14-year-old friend at Dargah Road in Gauri Pada, Bhiwandi, police officials said, adding that the 14-year-old playmate, who is yet to be identified, sustained minor injuries in the incident.

Ansari lived with his parents in the Gauri Pada area.

“The incident happened around 6pm. My nephew’s friend was in a state of shock and hence the police could not ask him about the incident,” Ansari’s uncle said.

Ankush Bangar, senior inspector, Bhoiwada police station said, “Ansari and another boy were playing near the sizing unit and were on their way home when the wall collapsed, trapping them under debris. The local residents heard their cries and rushed to the spot. They tried to rescue the boys.”

He added that after the local residents failed to rescue the duo from under the debris, they informed the Bhiwandi Nizampur City Municipal Corporation officials, the fire brigade and the police, who rushed to the spot and pulled them out.

“The boys were sent to the state-run Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Bhiwandi, where Ansari was declared dead before arrival and his friend was treated with first aid,” Bangar said. According to the police, the Kausar sizing unit was closed for more than a year, and its old brick wall, about eight feet in height, collapsed due to continuous rains.