Maharashtra Building Collapse: 1 Dead, 19 Still Missing As Rescue Operation On; 'Saddened,' Says PM

A day after a five-storeyed building in Maharashtra's Raigad district collapsed, rescue personnel continued to sift through the rubble in search of survivors, while police said 19 persons are still missing.

Eight persons have been rescued from the debris so far and 19 are still missing, Raigad District Superintendent of Police Anil Paraskar told PTI.

A man died of cardiac arrest on Monday night after he was hit by a stone from the falling building, the IPS officer said.

"This person was not a resident of the building, but was walking nearby when it collapsed and was hit by a stone from the falling debris. He died of cardiac arrest," Paraskar said.

An official at the Mantralaya State Control Room of the State Disaster Management Unit said the Tarek Garden building collapsed at Kajalpura in Mahad tehsil around 7 pm.

Sixty four-year-old Muhammad Ali has reached Mahad from  Mandangad in Raigad district after hearing news of the building collapse. He said he is clueless about the fate of his daughter, who lived in the ill-fated Tarek Garden building with her three children.

Ali reached Mahad, which is around 40 km from Mandangad, on Monday night and is camping near the collapse site, frantically trying to know the whereabouts of his kin.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday expressed his sadness at a building collapse in Raigad in Maharashtra, and said local authorities and NDRF teams are providing all possible assistance at the site. 

"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. Local authorities and NDRF teams are at the site of the tragedy, providing all possible assistance," the Prime Minister's Office tweeted quoting Modi. 

There were around 40 flats in the building, the official said, adding that those rescued were shifted to a local hospital at Mahad, which is around 170 km from Mumbai.

Around 50 people were missing, an official at the Mantralaya State Control Room of the State Disaster Management Unit said on Monday night.

Teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are at the spot for rescue operations. Canine squads were also deployed at the scene of the collapse, an official said.

(With PTI Inputs)