Tree collapse injures 5 of family

Five people, including two children, were injured after a tree collapsed on a chawl in Antop Hill late on Saturday, following heavy rain and strong winds.

Five people, including two children, were injured after a tree collapsed on a chawl in Antop Hill late on Saturday, following heavy rain and strong winds.

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This is the second incident of tree collapse in the city in the past two weeks. On July 17, a banyan tree collapsed outside the Inox theatre in Nariman Point, killing a woman and her six-month-old baby.

So far, this monsoon, more than 1,800 trees have collapsed. As reported in Hindustan Times, last year, 2,300 trees fell across the city, killing four people and injuring 13.

On Saturday, the tree, located on a hillock near the post office, was uprooted minutes after a boulder close to it rolled down and crashed into one of the houses in Devikai chawl.

The boulder crashed into a house that was unoccupied at the time, but the tree injured five residents of the chawl, which is located at the foot of the hillock.

The victims - identified as Laxman Waghmare, 24, Ashok Mahato, 30, Seema Mahato, 24, Aditya Mahato, 3, and three-month-old Indrajit Mahato - sustained minor head and shoulder injuries and were rushed to Sion hospital. Later, they were sent to KEM hospital.

“The three adults were given treatment and discharged, but the children have been kept under observation for 24 hours,” said Dr Sanjay Oak, dean, KEM hospital.

Niyaz Vanu, a local Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) corporator said a similar incident had occurred at the same spot last year too, but nobody was injured then. “As these people have settled at the foot of the hillock, they are vulnerable to rock and tree collapses. The civic body should chop the trees on the hillock to reduce the risk,” said Vanu.

Civic officials said the chawl is illegal but that it had installed a protection net to protect residents; the tree fell over the net.

Following the July 17 tragedy, the civic body announced that it would conduct a study of vulnerable and dangerous trees by end of August, which experts felt was too late for action as the monsoon would be receding by then.