Pune mishap: 9 killed as slab of under-construction building collapses

Pune: At least nine labourers were killed when a slab of an under-construction building collapsed in Balewadi area in Pune on Friday, police said.

Police take the body for post-mortem

The deceased have been identified as Basant Saha, Tufan Saha, Sarwan Saha, Karan Saha, Mannu Paswan, Varun Singh, Bipin Thakur, Vijay Paswan and Lakhan Saha.

The victims were working on the 13th floor of the under-construction residential building when the cement slab caved-in, Deputy Commissioner of Police, (zone-III), B Teli said. He said the rescue operation is underway.

Pune mishap

As per a fire brigade officer, the incident occurred in the building at around 11 am. "Our personnel are removing the debris to see whether more people are trapped inside," he said.

The under-construction building.

According to police, "The incident took place in Express Park phase two under construction site which is run under the project Pride Purple construction company. It is owned by Arvind Jain and Shravan Agarwal. It seems that project had got permission to construct upto 12th floor but we are still probing the case."

Around 13-14 labourers were working at the site at the time of the mishap.

Soon after the incident came to light, Pune Mayor Prashant Jagtap directed the officials to probe this case. He has assured that if the structure is found 'illegal', stringent against will be taken.