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26 killed in Mumbai building
collapse

Updated

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MUMBAI, India (AP) — At least 26 people were killed
and 15 others injured when a seven-story building collapsed in Mumbai,
officials said Thursday as rescue workers pulled survivors and bodies out
of the rubble.

Several others were feared trapped in the rubble of
the residential building in Mumbai's Borivali neighborhood, said Gopal
Shetty, a state lawmaker. The building collapsed late Wednesday.

Rescue workers toiled through the night, often
pulling aside chunks of masonry with their bare hands, in an attempt to
find survivors.

"The priority is to rescue people who may be trapped
inside," Shetty said.

By Thursday morning, cranes were brought in to lift
large slabs of concrete and workers began removing bodies from the rubble.
However, rescue efforts were hampered by sporadic monsoon showers.

Seven people, including four women, were plucked from
under mounds of concrete, twisted metal bars and mud by rescuers who
carried them to a nearby hospital on makeshift stretchers.

Some relatives waited anxiously by a white board at
the hospital where names of the dead were posted, while others chose to
huddle under umbrellas at the site waiting and hoping for survivors.

"My uncle and aunt are dead," said a weeping Sushil
Kothari. "We can't reach my cousins. They aren't answering their phones.
Why is this happening?"

Witnesses described the chaos of the collapse.

"There was a huge sound and a crash," said Meghna
Parekh, who lives nearby. "We rushed out and all we saw was this huge
mountain of mud and no building."

The building housed several stores and a clinic in
addition to residences.

It was not immediately clear what caused the
collapse, and the government had launched an inquiry, said K. Dhode, an
official at the state disaster control center.

Shetty said poor quality cement may have been used in
the construction of the 20-year-old building.

However, J. Phatak, a senior city official, said
residents reported extensive renovations to the building by a jewelry
store on the ground floor of the building.

Mumbai authorities routinely demolish shoddy
buildings ahead of the monsoon rains but this building was not listed as
dangerous, Phatak said.

Building collapses are frequent in India — where
construction is often hastily done with little regard for safety
regulations.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.

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To report corrections and
clarifications, contact Reader Editor Brent
Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send
comments to [email-masked]. Include
name, phone number, city and state for
verification.

Enlarge

By Gautam Singh,
AP

An
unidentified person who survived the collapse of a building is
pulled out of the rubble by firemen in Borivli, in suburban
Mumbai, India,
Thursday.

Rescue workers
toiled through the night, often pulling aside chunks of masonry with
their bare hands, in an attempt to find survivors at the scene of
the building collapse in Mumbai.

By Gautam Singh,
AP

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