7 from Malda among 41 killed in Thane building collapse, toll likely to rise

Thane, April 5 (PTI): The death toll in the collapse of the building under construction in Shil Phata area of the district has risen to 41 as rescuers recovered more bodies from the site on Friday, Thane police control room said. Those dead included nine women and 11 children, Thane Civic Corporation sources said on Friday. Seven construction workers from Malda district in West Bengal were among those killed, the Malda district administration said on Friday. "Seven persons who went to work in the eight-storey under-construction building in Thane district died on Thursday," District Magistrate G Kirankumar said. All of them belonged to Babla village and adjoining areas at Kaliachak in Malda district, he said. The bodies were being brought to their homes in the district, Kirankumar said. In Thane, a pregnant woman, identified as Shakila Imran Siddiqui, was among the deceased, civic officials said. The remaining bodies are yet to be identified. While 60 people were injured, rescuers fear that some victims are still trapped under debris, they said. The deceased included nearly ten children, women and some construction workers. The Daighar police have registered a case against builders Salil and Khalil Jamadar under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of Indian Penal Code, police said, adding that efforts were on to trace them. Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar are likely to visit the site on Friday. According to a construction worker, Shanti Jadhav, while they were calling it a day last evening and planning to return home, the contractor asked them to unload bricks from trucks.         The workers stayed back and started unloading bricks after the contractor threatened to beat them and at that time the building came crashing down, Jadhav alleged.         The seven-storey illegal structure, located in Shil Phata area between Mumbra and Dombivli townships, collapsed at around 6.30 PM on Thursday. The injured have been admitted to various hospitals in Thane and some have been shifted to Mumbai's JJ and Sion Hospitals for better treatment, police said. Relief and rescue operations are being carried out under the supervision of Civic Commissioner R A Rajeev and District Collector P Velarasu. Alok Awasthi, Commandant of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), which has been pressed into service to assist the local police and civic administration in rescue efforts, said 59 people had been pulled out alive but some more survivors could still be trapped under the debris. Cranes were being used to remove the rubble, floor-by-floor, to trace the survivors with the help of life detector sensors which could pick up signals from possible survivors from 70 metre deep, he said. Equipment fitted with thermal cameras was being inserted into the wreckage after making holes to locate survivors and extricate them with gas cutters, Awasthi said.         "The presence of large number of people and noise are hampering rescue efforts as it is difficult for the sensors to pick up signals of existing life under such a huge wreckage," said the NDRF Commandant, whose team of 90 men is working round-the-clock, at the scene of the incident.         Awasthi said though he was not an engineer, it seemed that the poor quality of construction was primarily responsible for the tragedy.         "I am not an engineer or a building expert but poor quality of construction and material, besides non-adherence to construction norms for high-rise building has caused this tragedy," he said. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) legislator from Kalyan township of Thane, Ramesh Patil alleged that he had complained to the municipal commissioner last week that the building was unauthorised and unfit for occupation, but no action was taken. Civic officials had on Thursday said the building in Shil Phata area in Daighar village was unauthorised. They claimed that it was built on forest land and occupied at least up to the fourth floor. There were around 35 families residing in the building, they said.