A two-storey building collapsed at Hindustan Nagar in Wadala on Saturday. (Express photo by Vignesh Krishnamoorthy)
A two-storey building at Hindustan Nagar in Wadala’s Antop Hill, housing a grocery store on the ground floor, collapsed on Saturday afternoon. Eight people were safely evacuated from the premises.
The owner of the grocery store, Sagar Prajapati (37), was the last to be rescued from the debris by the fire brigade as the others had rushed out while the building was crumbling. Prajapati’s wife Kesardevi (34) and his sons Jitesh (13), Bhavesh (9) and Jigar (6) were among those who were evacuated.
A wall of the building fell on a hutment adjacent to it, injuring its occupants Mohammed Salim Hamidi (40), Mohsin Khan (50) and Zahir Khan (15).
Miraj Shaikh, who witnessed the incident, said, “We tried to evacuate people at the earliest. We also switched off the gas pipe inside the grocery shop to avert a bigger disaster.”
According to hospital officials, the victims are safe and have sustained only minor injuries on their hands and back.
“We rescued only the owner of the shop as he was taking a nap in his house on the first floor. The others were already out if the structure while it was crumbling and were evacuated before the fire team came. Everybody was admitted to Sion Hospital,” a senior police official said.
“We suspect that the building collapsed as it was quite old. We have registered an offence against the owner of the building for negligence,” the official added.
Five fire engines, a rescue van and two ambulances were rushed to the spot, fire brigade officials said.
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