6 kids die in Bandra building collapse

MUMBAI: Six children from the same family died after a five-storey building collapsed in a narrow, congested Bandra (East) slum in Behrampada, Bandra (East) on Thursday.

MUMBAI: Six children from the same family died after a five-storey building collapsed in a narrow, congested Bandra (East) slum in Behrampada, Bandra (East) on Thursday. The youngest victim was a year old.

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The ground-plus-four structure came crashing down at 1:40 pm. Five others were injured, including the mother of five of the children. Two of the seriously injured have been admitted to Bhabha hospital.

One of them, Abdul Salam Shaikh, was injured while helping the victims.

The children who lost their life include Aysha Akbar Khan, 13, Alinisar Ahmad Khan, 3, Osama Nisar Khan, 14, Afifa Sadab, 1, Aribi Nisar Khan, 2, and Rusada Nisar Khan, 16.

Three other children from the family and their father Mohammad Nisar and grandfather Abdul Rauf escaped before the building collapsed.

“My six grandchildren were trapped inside the debris. They were living on the first floor. Three other children were in school and are unharmed,” said Abdul Rauf.

The structure housed four families, said locals.

Two families were living inside the structure at the time of incident. Officials said residents had undertaken renovation without permission.

Officials said the entire structure was made of brick and mortar and the collapse occurred because of the weight of the illegal upper floors on the weak basement.

“The structure was constructed on a weak basement, which could not sustain the weight of a four- storey structure. Some illegal renovation was also underway. Most of the structures in the area are similar and are a tinder box,” said a fire brigade officer, on the condition of anonymity.

The incident has once again brought to the fore the problem of illegal structures in Mumbai. A fire in an Andheri slum recently, in which nine members of a family were killed, had prompted to the civic body to make statements about action against illegal structures, especially multi-storey ones that are more than 14 feet in height. However, it seems not much action has been taken.