Number of those who died in Fort building crash rises to 10

Both MHADA and the BMC had permitted the owner to start repairs on the 100-year-old structure; NDRF completes rescue operations

The Fareya family survived the earthquake of Kutch in 2001 and shifted to Mumbai, but on Thursday, lost two members in the building collapse in Fort. Sixty five-year-old Manishaben Fareya and her son, Kalpesh, 22, died when a part of the 100-year-old Bhanushali building collapsed. Until now, 10 deaths have been reported by the authorities in the crash, while several people have been injured and some are missing.

Nanji Fareya, Manishaben's husband, has a shop on the opposite side of the road. He and their elder son Ratanshi survived the incident. "Nanji had just returned to the shop after tea at home when the incident occurred," said Jayantilal Gada, a relative.

Manishaben Fareya and her son Kalpesh died in the crash

The National Disaster Relief Front (NDRF) with the help of sniffer dogs completed the rescue operation late on Friday. Ashish Kumar, in-charge of the NDRF team, said, "A part of the building had collapsed, and in such cases there is always a risk of the remaining portion falling too. This is why the rescue operation was going on very cautiously."

'Loss less due to lockdown'

Local corporator Sujata Sanap, while speaking to mid-day said, "This was a MHADA building and the owner was granted permission for redevelopment. That seems to have been stalled due to the pandemic. But whether or not this British era structure was declared dangerous by authorities is yet not clear. The incident is tragic, but it is important to note that on a regular day the losses would have been much more. The location of the building is such that on a regular working weekday, there is a lot of crowd in the area as there are several offices around. Moreover, the timing of the incident was around the end of office hours. If it was not for the lockdown, there would have been many more casualties."

Locals rescued two people

"The Mumbai Fire Brigade rescued 25 persons from the site, out of which 13 persons were rescued from the structure with the help of a ladder and 12 persons from the debris. Five persons from them were declared dead by the hospital on Thursday. On Friday the toll rose to 10," said Prabhat Rahangdale, chief of MFB.

According to information provided by the Fire Brigade, two persons were rescued by locals before their arrival on Thursday. Those who died in the crash include Padmalal Gupta, 50, Jyotsna Gupta, 70, Kusum Gupta, 45, and two unidentified women, who were declared dead on Thursday; Shailesh Kanno, 20, who died on Friday during treatment; and Manishaben Fareya, 65, Lalit Chaursiya, 35, Rinku Chaurasiya, 25 and Kalpesh Fareya, 22.

Two persons, Bhalchandra Kanno, 48, and Neha Gupta, 45, are under treatment at J J Hospital.

In its report of the collapse MHADA has stated that the building owner was granted permission for repair work in June 2018, following which the civic body too had permitted it in June 2019. "At the time of giving this NOC the 100-years-old Bhanushali building had 27 residential and 31 non-residential properties. The building structure was ground plus 5 storey. MHADA is arranging for transit camps as per demand," read a statement issued by the MHADA PRO.

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