Disasters & Accidents

Death toll climbs to 13 in building collapse in western India

New Delhi, Aug 25 (efe-epa).- Death toll in a four-storey building collapse in the western Indian state of Maharashtra increased to 13, while eight were injured, the authorities said on Tuesday, while rescue efforts continue.

The last two fatalities, recovered from the rubble, were minors – two girls aged two and seven seven respectively -, the district administration spokesperson Manoj Shivaji Sanap told EFE.

The incident occurred late Monday in Raigad district, and rescue teams continue to look for survivors among the 15 people feared to have been trapped in the rubble.

The number of casualties have increased to 13 dead and eight injured, of which “five have got discharged. They are okay now,” Sanap said.

Among the survivors rescued, Sanap highlighted the case of a four-year-old boy who spent 19 hours trapped in the rubble, giving the rescue services hope of finding more people alive.

The Director General of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Satya Pradhan, took to Twitter to share the event of the “MIRACLE-CHILD RESCUED ALIVE-God’s Child.”

“Let’s All pray for more miracles,” Pradhan added, and shared a video of the child being extracted from the rubble by several members of the rescue services.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took to the social networking site to express his condolences to the families of those affected.

“Saddened by the building collapse in Mahad, Raigad in Maharashtra. My thoughts are with the families of those who lost their dear ones. I pray the injured recover soon,” Modi tweeted from the official handle of the Prime Minister’s Office.

“Local authorities and NDRF teams are at the site of the tragedy, providing all possible assistance,” he added.

Fires and building collapses are common in India owing to the often precarious condition of infrastructure and a lack of maintenance, factors that are aggravated by corruption and illegal practices within the construction sector.

Monsoon season only serves to heighten the possibility of collapses, with the prolonged period of intense rain affecting building structures.

Last year, 13 people died when a building collapsed during the monsoon season in the month of July in Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra and considered India’s financial capital.

The same month, a building collapse due to incessant rain in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh claimed 12 lives and injured 30 others.

And a few days before that, torrential rain in Maharashtra caused the deaths of at least 23 people, 14 of them brought about by the collapse of a wall in a shanty area. EFE-EPA

mt-daa/sc

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