Ten more bodies were recovered in Maharashtra's Virar building collapse on Thursday, raising the death toll to 15, as disaster management minister Girish Mahajan is set to visit the site around 3 pm.
Till Wednesday night, 24 people were rescued by the fire brigade from the debris after a portion of the Ramabai Apartments in Narangi area of Virar East on Tuesday night.
Nittal Sane (47), the builder of Ramabai Apartment, was arrested on Wednesday under Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and relevant sections of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act.
According to police, Ramabai Apartment, built in 2011, was declared unsafe by the Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation in May, but no action was taken.
District magistrate Indurani Jakhar inspected the spot and said that the revenue department, police, and municipal corporation are continuing the rescue operation. “The work of removing people from the debris is going on rapidly under the supervision of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF),” said Indurani.
Among those killed were members of the Jovil family, who were celebrating a one-year-old girl’s birthday when a part of the building collapsed, killing the girl, Utkarsha, and her mother, Arohi. The girl’s father, Omkar Jovil, is still missing.
{{/usCountry}}Among those killed were members of the Jovil family, who were celebrating a one-year-old girl’s birthday when a part of the building collapsed, killing the girl, Utkarsha, and her mother, Arohi. The girl’s father, Omkar Jovil, is still missing.
{{/usCountry}}The fire brigade team of the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation and the NDRF are engaged in relief and rescue work at the spot.
“The operation is difficult due to narrow streets and a densely populated area, and heavy machinery like JCB is facing difficulty entering the narrow lanes,” said a fire brigade officer.