Mumbai, Sep 22 (UNI) The death toll in Bhiwandi building collapse site rose to 20 by Tuesday morning, 28 hours after the incident as rescue operations by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Thane, Bhiwandi disaster cell continue.
Eight among the dead are children ageing between two and fourteen years. As per the officials of Bhiwandi Nizampur City Municipal Corporation (BNCMC), around twenty to twenty-five people are still trapped inside the debris.
“As per the required details from locals at least 20-25 people are still trapped inside the debris. We also learnt that some workers were asleep on the ground floor which runs a power loom,” said Milind Palsule, public relations officer, BNCMC.
The 36-year-old ground plus three-storey Jilani building, located at Patel compound in Dhamankar naka, Bhiwandi in Maharashtra Thane district, collapsed on Monday morning at 0330 hrs. Around 62 residents were fear trapped in the rubbles at the time of the accident. The third floor of the building came crashing down on to the first floor.
The injured are being rushed to the Indira Gandhi Memorial (IGM) hospital in Bhiwandi.
NDRF and a team of 100 are in the rescue operation, which involves claimed that more and more dead bodies are being pulled out from under the debris now.
The rescue operations took a halt for 30 minutes on Tuesday morning as the team had to manage and balance the slab of the third floor that came crashing down. The chance of survivors trapped in the debris are ample, sources said.
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