Four members of a family died in a house collapse at Govandi on Friday around 4am. Seven people, including persons from the neighbouring home, have also been injured in the incident due to the collapse.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials suspect that an additional floor built on the structure could have led to the collapse. In June, the civic body had served a notice to the family for structural violations.
The victims have been identified as Neha Parvez Shaikh, 35; her sister Farin, 22; mother Shamshad, 45, and grandfather Mokar, 80.
The Shaikhs owned a furniture shop on the ground floor of the structure, while they had moved into one of the floors above around less than a year ago, locals said.
Wasim Mustafa, 25, who owns a shop 50 metres away from the crash site, said, “The family had recently done some repair work and added an additional floor. The house was a ground-plus-one structure, but they converted it into a ground-plus-two structure with a terrace. It was a structure that was constructed with the support of iron rods and not by the traditional method of having a proper foundation under the ground.”
According to locals, there were over a dozen of relatives at the family’s house to celebrate Eid on Wednesday and Thursday. However, at the time of the incident, only six of the family were present inside the house.
{{/usCountry}}According to locals, there were over a dozen of relatives at the family’s house to celebrate Eid on Wednesday and Thursday. However, at the time of the incident, only six of the family were present inside the house.
{{/usCountry}}BMC officials said Shaikh and Mokar were declared dead on arrival at the civic-run Rajawadi Hospital, while Shamshad was brought in a critical condition and died a few hours later. Farin’s body was recovered from debris a few hours after the crash. She was rushed to the hospital, but the doctors had declared her dead.
On collapsing, the house damaged the structure of two nearby houses and one on the opposite side, thereby injuring four occupants in them.
Shahid Qureshi, 53, a neighbour of the Shaikh family, said, “They [the Shaikhs] had overloaded the house with a huge water tank on the terrace and constructed a room over there. They had also called a few guests for Eid celebrations, which may have added the load on the house. All our belongings have been destroyed as the BMC demolished our house due to safety reasons. But we are alive.”
“When the collapse took place around 4am, there was a loud noise and smoke everywhere. We thought there was a blast, and we could not see anything. My brother and I went to the collapse site and started pulling out people from the debris. We have an ambulance in our area but couldn’t save four members from the Shaikh family as they were badly injured,” said Samir Sayyed, 38, another local.
According to assistant civic commissioner Mahendra Ubale, the house was constructed around 10 years ago. “We have sent notices to owners of 300 structures in the area, including this house, before monsoon. The owner had done some violations recently. We’ll take action against the contractor who helped the owner commit structural violations and also verify if any action can be taken against the family members who are alive because the owner of the house has died.”
Part of Antop Hill building falls
A portion of a ground-plus-five storey building in Antop Hill collapsed at 9.55pm on Friday. No injuries were reported in the incident. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) disaster management department, the building is located at Punjabi camp near Hari Manzil. BMC said the building was partially vacated and the part on the east side of the structure had collapsed. The fire brigade, ward staff and local police have been mobilised for aid.