Navi Mumbai: 1 dead, 7 hurt as ceiling slabs of flats crash 5 floors in Nerul

NAVI MUMBAI: One person died and seven sustained severe injuries after ceiling slabs of apartments at Jimmy Park, an eight-storeyed housing society in Sector 17 in Nerul, collapsed on Saturday afternoon.
It is learnt that initially the slab of the fifth floor flat collapsed, while some drilling work of the flooring on the sixth floor was on. The impact of the slab collapse resulted in the ceiling slabs of lower floors collapsing, one after the other, till the ground floor. An FIR was filed against the builder and the workers.
Nerul police registered an FIR under IPC sections for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others, against six accused persons responsible for the collapse. The accused named in the FIR are supervisor Shaikh Sultan, a resident of Kurla, along with the contractor and three labourers. Even the builder of Ashutosh Developers Pvt Ltd has been made an accused for inferior quality of building construction.
A Nerul fire brigade team rescued residents using a Bronto skylift by evacuating them from their balconies. Seven injured, including an octogenarian couple, were rushed to hospital, as a medical team from DY Patil hospital in Nerul reached the spot.
NMMC commissioner Abhijit Bangar said, "The society was served a notice under section 264 of Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act on May 18, wherein it was advised to get a structural audit done. As residents are claiming that the ceiling slab collapse was due to the drilling work on the flooring of the sixth floor, we will inquire into it. The building structure might be faulty, as multiple ceiling slabs have collapsed, due to the drilling work.'
Bangar said, "The structural expert will be inspecting the building and an enquiry committee report will decide the course of action. The residents of the building have been evacuated and accommodated at a transit camp of NMMC, where they will be provided food and basic facilities. The builder obtained an occupancy certificate in 1994. As the builder has constructed several other residential buildings in Navi Mumbai, a structural audit of those buildings as well will be carried out by NMMC, irrespective of the current structural condition of those buildings."
Vyankatesheshan Nadar (31 ), a resident of the 5th floor, who was found severely injured under a pile of debris on the ground floor, was declared brought dead at DY Patil hospital, Nerul.