‘Before I realised what had happened, I was flung to the next building’

Mohammed Nayeem, 39, survived Saturday’s building collapse in Inderlok. But his wife and three children were not lucky enough.

Mohammed Nayeem, 39, survived Saturday’s building collapse in Inderlok. But his wife and three children were not lucky enough.

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A resident of 313/4, 290 in Tulsi Nagar, Inderlok, he had bought a flat on the fourth floor of the building just two months back for `9.5 lakh. Little did he realise that he was walking into a death trap that wiped out his family. Nayeem, who suffered a severe head injury, is undergoing treatment at Bara Hindu Rao Hospital in Malkaganj.

“I was on the terrace after taking a bath around 8 in the morning. As I was about to wear my shirt, I could feel the building collapsing. Before I could realise what happened, I was flung to the next building. Construction work was going on in the next building for the past 15-20 days. Work in the basement of that building led to the collapse of our building. We had complained to the municipal corporation that the construction was illegal but they did not pay any heed to us,” said Nayeem, who works in a factory.

Nayeem’s wife Rubina, 35, was declared dead at Bara Hindu Rao Hospital, while his three children Adiba (14), Asif (12), and Rehan (6) succumbed to injuries at Acharya Shree Bhikshu Hospital in Moti Nagar.

“We did not inform him about his wife and children. We got to know about the incident around 8:30 am and immediately rushed to Rashid’s house,”said Mohammed Atiq, brother-in-law of Rashid. Mohammed Ejaz (24) Mohammed Ujale (22) and Mohammed Imtiaz (24) were declared brought dead at Acharya Shree Bhikshu Hospital, apart from Nayeem’s three children.