Mumbai building collapse: One arrested as death toll crosses 60, several still feared trapped

[email protected] (News Network)
September 28, 2013

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Mumbai, Sep 29: The death toll in the Mazgaon building collapse has risen to 61 while 32 others are injured. As rescuers race against time to find survivors under the debris, the real picture of the tragedy is unfolding as families cope to struggle with the loss. The human tragedy of the collapse is unbearable for many.

Among those who have died is 30-year-old journalist Yogesh Anant Pawar, who worked for the Marathi daily Sakal. Originally from Jaitapur in Ratnagiri district, Yogesh had come to Mumbai to work as a journalist. While Yogesh's father's body was pulled out earlier, his body was pulled out this afternoon. Santosh Kamble, Yogesh's brother-in-law told reporters, "He used to live with his father here. His mother, his brothers and his sister have arrived from the village."

As precious hours pass away, chances of finding survivors are fading. Miraculously, even after 24 hours, some survivors were pulled out by the National Disaster Response Force or NDRF. Sachidanand Gawde, Deputy Commandant of the NDRF, said, "We are using victim locating cameras and we have used it locate him and find his exact position. We have used an airlifting bag to lift the slab he is trapped under."

The question now on everyone's mind is, could this tragedy have been averted? The building is owned by the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation or BMC itself and was listed for major repairs by its own officers. Unfortunately, these repairs were never carried out. The Mayor of Mumbai has promised an inquiry into the delay of repairs and said that anyone found responsible will be dealt with in the strictest manner.

A decorator who had a godown on the ground floor has now been arrested and sent to police custody till Tuesday for alleged illegal alterations. He has been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

But that is hardly any compensation for those who have lost everything they had. This is the seventh building to have collapsed in the last six months in Mumbai and Thane and hundreds of lives have been lost. But the most important question is, with nearly 950 very dangerous buildings in Mumbai alone, how many more collapses will it take for authorities to act?

Earlier:

13 killed, 29 injured in Mumbai building collapse

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Mumbai, Sep 28: Thirteen people including a girl-child were crushed to death and 29 sustained grievous injuries when a four-storey building housing civic employees in south Mumbai came crashing down on a rain soaked Friday.

Fire brigade officials who where engaged in clearing the debris of the 32-year-old building located along Dockyard Road, in the old Mazagon locality, fear the possibility of people trapped underneath as there were 21 families staying in the building and several families are still missing.

Apart from the injured who have been admitted to various hospitals, 20 people escaped unhurt.

Rescue operations were launched immediately at around 6 am when the first distress call was relayed to the fire brigade. Search lights and ambulances underneath heavy rain and dark skies were put into action along with dozen JCBs, cranes, mechanical diggers and bulldozers.

Apart from the Mumbai fire brigade, teams from Thane fire brigade, National Disaster Response Force were also summoned.

A team of over 100 rescuers from various agencies were still cutting through slabs late in the evening. Traffic on the congested Dockyard Road was diverted to ease the flow of emergency vehicles.

The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in an official communique stated that the structure housed 28 rooms on four floors of which 21 were occupied by civic employees and their families. Labourers who were carrying out repairs in the building were housed in a godown on the ground floor.

Civic engineers, during the audit of the building, had classified the structure as “extremely dilapidated” and orders were issued to vacate the building for restructuring. However, there was a delay in shifting the occupants.

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, along with Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, summoned an emergency meeting of the concerned departments and ordered “top priority” to the rescue operations.

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Agencies
May 25,2020

Hyderabad, May 25: Indicating foul play in the death of nine people, including six of a family, whose bodies were fished out from a well near Warangal, a forensic expert on Sunday virtually ruled out suicide theory, saying it appeared seven of them had been dragged and thrown into the water body.

Mystery shrouded the death of nine people, including six of a family, whose bodies were found in a well, five of them on Friday and four on Thursday, on the outskirts of Warangal in Telangana.

Police stepped up the probe and forensic analysis was also underway in the case.

The forensic expert, who visited the crime scene as part of the investigation citing preliminary tests, said that the seven of nine people had scratch injuries and appeared to have been "dragged" and "thrown" into the well.

Forensic reports are expected in 10 days, the forensic expert told media on Sunday adding after examining the crime scene it appears that the deaths were not suicides.

"We have preserved all organs and the same were sent to forensic science laboratory (FSL) for examination... some two or three persons might have been involved in the crime. There are scratch injuries on the bodies," he said.

"It appears that they were thrown into the water... There were no injuries on the child's body. We are awaiting the forensic report (to ascertain) whether they were poisoned. It didn't appear as if they committed suicide," the expert, who performed the post-mortem said.

Police sources said at least two people were picked up for questioning.

Bodies of the head of the family, wife, daughter and three-year old grandson were found floating and fished out on Thursday.

On Friday morning, some bodies were seen floating following which police pumped out the water from the well and found others.

The 48-year old man had migrated from West Bengal over 20 years ago and had settled down here. His family had been staying in two rooms on the premises of the unit, police had earlier said.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Bareilly, Jan 9: In a bizarre development, a woman has been arrested for inflicting 101 cuts on her sister-in-law in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district, the police said on Thursday.

The woman was practicing exorcism to cure her father who had been ailing for some time.

The woman, Moni, was helped by her husband Mooli and brother Raju in the act, which happened on Tuesday.

The sister-in-law Renu who suffered the cuts, was given 300 stitches on her face and other parts of the body by the doctors.

Renu has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where her condition is said to be serious.

Moni, 30, has been sent to jail while Mooli and Raju are absconding.

Baradari police station officer inspector Naresh Tyagi said that a complaint had been filed by Renu's brother under section 307 (attempt to murder) of IPC.

"We will record Renu's statements in a day or two once she is stable and in a condition to talk to us. We have sent Moni to jail," the inspector said.

Renu, a resident of Ganghora village in Bareilly, was married to Sanjeev around eight years ago.

Her father-in-law, Jagdish, fell ill a few months ago.

"Accused Moni, who practices exorcism, decided to cure her father by initiating the act. Going by superstitious beliefs, they inflicted as many as 101 cuts on Renu's face and body. It cannot be ruled out that they wanted to sacrifice her to complete the act," police inspector said.

On Tuesday night, the accused had locked Renu's husband and mother-in-law in another room when they tried to stop them from making her a scapegoat.

When the accused trio started inflicting cuts on Renu, she struggled to get out of their clutches and somehow managed to escape from the house.

She had run a short distance when she collapsed and became unconscious. A police constable on patrol reportedly spotted her and she was taken to a district hospital. Once regaining her consciousness, she narrated her ordeal to the police who then informed her parents.

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News Network
June 6,2020

Kota (Rajasthan), Jun 6: A 14-year-old boy allegedly hanged himself to death on early Saturday morning shortly after he stopped playing PUBG throughout the night and went to sleep, said police. 

Railway Colony police station’s in-charge Hansraj Meena said the boy, a class 9 student and son of an Army man, was found hanging from the grill of the ventilator in his bedroom on early Saturday morning. 

Meena said according to the boy’s family members, the boy had downloaded the gaming programme on his mother’s mobile phone only three days back but had been playing the game virtually continuously for the last three days. 

He kept on playing the game till 3 am in a room in which his brother was studying, said Meena, adding the boy went to adjoining to sleep after that. His body was found hanging from the ventilator’s grill in the morning, he said, adding the boy was rushed to MBS Hospital, where he was declared “brought dead”. 

No suicide note was recovered in the case, the SHO said. The boy lived in Gandhi Colony in the city along with his mother and brother, while his father, a Tamil Nadu native and Army man, is currently posted in Arunachal Pradesh. The boy’s body has been kept in hospital’s morgue for the postmortem, the SHO said.

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