Ghatkopar hoarding collapse: 2 more bodies located under debris; rescue ops continue

Pic/PTI

Two more bodies were located under the debris at the site of a giant Ghatkopar hoarding collapse in Mumbai as the search and rescue operation continued on Wednesday, an NDRF official said, reported news agency PTI.

The bodies were spotted last night, but were yet to be pulled out, a civic official said, reported PTI.

Rescue teams had earlier recovered 14 bodies from the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse site, while 75 persons were injured in the incident, as per officials, reported PTI.

A small fire broke out at the incident site in Ghatkopar during the search and rescue operation on Wednesday morning, but it was immediately doused by the fire tenders deployed there, an NDRF official said, reported PTI.

"There was a small fire but it was extinguished immediately," the official said, reported PTI.

The search and rescue operation continued even 40 hours after the incident, officials said, reported PTI.

The illegal hoarding that stood on a piece of land in possession of the Government Railway Police (GRP) crashed on a petrol pump in Chheda Nagar area on Monday evening when the city was hit by dust storms and unseasonal rains.

"We want to ensure that nobody is left under the hoarding," the BMC official said, adding that the rescue team was planning to lift and cut a part of it so as to gain access to its centre, reported PTI.

An NDRF official said the rescue team tried to lift the hoarding with two cranes of 500 MT capacity, but did not proceed considering safety concerns. The main concern is the possibility of fire as the petrol pump has underground fuel storage tanks and a CNG refueling facility, reported PTI.

"We could not use gas cutters as there is a chance of fire due to sparks. Even while using cranes and other machinery, we were continuously spraying water," a Mumbai Fire Brigade official said, reported PTI.

The five iron pillars of the hoarding got uprooted along with chunks of its concrete foundation when it came crashing down, he said.

The BMC, meanwhile, started demolition of other hoardings near the petrol pump, also located on the GRP land, reported PTI.

Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani said the BMC had not given any permission for the hoarding. It had been conducting correspondence (with the owner and concerned agencies) regarding it for the last two years, and also lodged a police complaint for the poisoning of trees on its periphery, he said, reported PTI.

"A stand was taken that we (GRP) do not need permission (for a hoarding on railway land) under the Railway Act. The BMC's response was that it was not legally correct. And hence, in the whole episode, so far there was no action," the commissioner claimed, reported PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)