BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said that four people were admitted to a hospital, while nine people were discharged after primary treatment

:A rescue and search operation underway after a four-storey building collapsed in Kurla, Mumbai. ANI

The death toll in Mumbai’s Kurla four-storey building collapse has risen to three. The rescue operation is still underway and as per the fire brigade department, seven to eight people are still trapped under the debris.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner, Iqbal Singh Chahal, said, “Three people died and four were admitted to the hospital, while nine people were discharged after primary treatment. As per the fire brigade, there are seven to eight people trapped under the debris of the building. Police suspect that there could be even more people.”

Chahal further said that he has requested the fire bridge and NDRF to carry out the search and rescue operation “carefully” as there could be some people alive inside.

“The civic body will conduct a probe,” the BMC Commissioner said.

Late on Monday night, a wing of the building, located in Kurla’s Naik Nagar Society, collapsed and its another wing was also likely to crash and was vacated.

“The D wing of the Naik Nagar Society collapsed last night. The building has been dilapidated and since 2013 notices were given to first repair and then demolish the building,” Ashwini Bhide, Additional Commissioner, BMC, said.

“Even prosecution for-non compliance was initiated. Later, the residents got the structural audit redone and got the building categorised as repairable, but didn’t carry out the repairs,” Bhinde said.

The building residents had even given an undertaking that they would stay there at their risk and cost, she said.

The injured people were shifted to civic hospitals in Ghatkopar and Sion.

A woman, who was trapped under the debris, was rescued by a team of the NDRF. Rescuers cheered when the woman was brought out alive from the rubble.

Locals earlier informed the fire brigade personnel that around 20-22 people were trapped under the debris, when they reached the spot after receiving a call about the incident around 11.52 pm on Monday. After receiving the call, seven fire trucks, two rescue vans and ambulances were sent to the spot.

Teams of the fire brigade and the NDRF were engaged in the search and rescue operations at the site along with civic staff and police.

Maharashtra environment and tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray also visited the site and reviewed the search and rescue operation on Tuesday.

This is the third major building collapse incident in the metropolis in June this year alone. On 23 June, the slab of a two-storey industrial structure collapsed in Chembur area, killing a 22-year-old person and injuring 10 others. On 9 June, a three-storey residential building collapsed in suburban Bandra, where a 55-year-old man was killed and 18 others suffered injuries.

With inputs from agencies

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