The death toll in building collapse at Cholegaon Thakurli village in suburban Dombivali in Thane district has gone up to nine while the number of people injured and undergoing treatment at local hospitals has risen to 14. The dead include four women and two children. Kalyan Dombivali Chief Fire Brigade officer Dilip Gund informed that nine people were successfully rescued from the debris while another five who jumped off the building while it was collapsing are reported to be safe. The over four-decade old two-storeyed building, ‘Matru Chhaya’ collapsed following heavy downpour yesterday night. Kalyan Police informed that at the time of collapse, 12 families were inside the building and they could still be under the debris.
The District Disaster Management Control Room in-charge Jaideep Visave informed that 50 jawans of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) besides fire brigade officials from Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan-Dombivali and civic authorities helped carry out rescue operations at the site.
However, the operations have been hampered due to continuous rains. Santosh Kadam of Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC) said while most trapped under the debris have been rescued some occupants could be still trapped beneath. District Guardian Minister Ekanth Shinde, Kalyan MP Srikanth Shinde, Collector Ashwini Joshi and other top officials are monitoring the rescue and relief work.