38 dead in India building collapse

MUMBAI, India – At least 38 people were crushed to death on the outskirts of Mumbai after an unauthorised partly-built apartment block collapsed, police said Friday, highlighting the dangers of India’s illegal housing boom.

The seven-storey building collapsed on Thursday evening into a mangled heap of steel and concrete of about eight meters (26 feet) high that rescuers and local residents struggled to cut through, officials said.

Rescue efforts continued into Friday, with diggers and steel cutters employed to reach victims who were carried away on makeshift stretchers. Limbs protruding from the wreckage were a grisly sight in some areas.

As emergency workers combed the rubble for survivors in front of a huge crowd of onlookers, two toddlers were pulled out alive late Thursday to cries of “Allahu akbar” (God is greater) and cheers and clapping, an AFP photographer a

Teams from the National Disaster Response Force and other rescue workers were trying to clear the debris from the site amid fears there may be more people trapped in the twisted pile of of concrete and steel.

The victims were workers and members of their families who were living in some of the still-unfinished areas of the building.

The Hindustan Times daily said the builders may have flouted norms.

“Seven floors were built in merely three to four months. It was bound to collapse due to the inferior construction material used by the builders,” the paper quoted the local head of the disaster management cell as saying.

Building collapses are a common occurrence in India, where a booming economy has led to a mushrooming of multi-storey structures which are often unauthorised and flout safety laws. – Rappler.com