At least 24 people were killed and nine others injured when a seven-story building collapsed in Mumbai, officials said yesterday as rescue workers continued to dig through the rubble for survivors.
At least 10 others were feared trapped in the rubble of the residential building in Mumbai's Borivali neighborhood, said Gopal Shetty, a state lawmaker.
The building collapsed late on Wednesday.
desperate
Rescue workers toiled through the night, often pulling aside chunks of masonry with their bare hands, in an attempt to find survivors.
"The priority is to rescue people who may be trapped inside," Shetty said.
By yesterday morning, cranes were brought in to lift large slabs of concrete and workers began removing bodies from the rubble.
However, rescue efforts were hampered by sporadic monsoon showers.
Four people, including two women, were plucked from under mounds of concrete, twisted metal bars and mud by rescuers who carried them to a nearby hospital on makeshift stretchers.
Some relatives waited anxiously by a white board in the hospital where names of the dead were posted, while others chose to huddle under umbrellas at the site waiting and hoping for survivors.
"My uncle and aunt are dead," a weeping Sushil Kothari said. "We can't reach my cousins. They aren't answering their phones. Why is this happening?"
Witnesses described the chaos of the collapse.
"There was a huge sound and a crash," said Meghna Parekh who lives nearby. "We rushed out and all we saw was this huge mountain of mud and no building."
The building housed several stores, a clinic and residences.
It was not immediately clear what caused the collapse.
Shetty said poor quality cement may have been used in the construction of the 20-year-old building.
renovations
However, J. Phatak, a senior city official, said residents reported extensive renovations to the building by a jewelry store on the ground floor of the building.
Mumbai authorities routinely demolish shoddy buildings ahead of the monsoon rains but this building was not listed as dangerous, Phatak said.
Building collapses are frequent in India - where construction is often hastily carried out with little regard for safety regulations.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese