Mumbai: Demolition worker dies after building collapses on him

Fire brigade personnel spray water on the debris of the crashed building after smoke was seen rising out of it. Pics/Suresh Karkera

A 50-year-old worker died after the entire structure of a building at Abdul Rehman street collapsed during demolition. The building had caught fire on Saturday morning and after six cylinder blasts in the evening, the structure had been declared unsafe by the fire brigade. The demolition work on the building was started on Monday morning by MHADA. On Friday, five workers were at the site when the whole structure came down around 5 pm.

Vinayak Vispute, assistant commissioner of B ward, had said, "After the building collapsed, all five labourers were rescued. Three are safe and two of the injured were sent to J J hospital." Dr Rajeev from J J hospital, however, said that one worker, Farid Khan, was declared brought dead and Abdul Shaikh, 24, is under treatment. The four-storey, 101-year-old Tyeb building is situated on the busy Abdul Rehman street near Crawford Market. The ground and first floors were occupied by five shops selling stationery, handbags, school bags, etc, and a godown. Residential houses were located on the upper three floors.

A worker who escaped unhurt watches as the others are rescued on Friday

On Saturday, a fire was reported at 4.24 am at the ground floor of the building, which kept the fire brigade on their toes for more than 24 hours. Though the fire was initially confined to one stationery shop, the fire operation felt a jolt due to dense smoke and zero visibility in the early hours and the blast of six cylinders in the evening.

All the residents who were stranded on the upper floors were evacuated safely in the morning. As the possibility of a building collapse like the one in Kalbadevi couldn't be ruled out at the time, the fire brigade had deployed a robot and carried out fire fighting from a safe distance. The fire was brought under control only on Monday. After a report from the fire brigade regarding the unsafe condition of the building, the C ward informed MHADA, who in turn appointed a private contractor to pull down the wooden building.

Also Read: Mumbai police, BMC remove dangling overhead wires near Crawford Market

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No. of floors of the building that had residences

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