MUMBAI: Authorities yesterday abandoned a search for survivors from the collapse of a seven-storey building on Mumbai’s outskirts that killed 72 people, saying there was no hope of finding anybody else alive.
“The rescue work is now over since there is no hope of finding any more survivors,” Sandeep Malvi, Thane municipal corporation spokesman, said.
“The death toll is now 72. About 36 are injured and undergoing treatment. At least 126 people have been rescued,” he added.
Most of the victims were poor daily wage earners working at the site and their families, who were living with them. The dead included 17 children and 22 women, a local government statement said.
The building collapsed late on Thursday.
A 65-year-old woman was pulled from the rubble late on Friday after being trapped for almost 30 hours and was in stable condition in hospital, police said.
Police have arrested the two builders responsible for construction of the structure who had fled after the disaster and filed accusations of culpable homicide against them, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency said.
The building’s floors collapsed directly on top of each other like a pack of cards -- a phenomenon known as a “pancake collapse” -- making rescue work even tougher, said Alok Awasthi, commandant of the National Disaster Response Force.
“We are reasonably sure there is nobody there,” Awasthi said after calling off the search.
The Maharashtra state government has announced a probe into the incident and suspended a top civic administrator and a police officer for dereliction of duty.
AFP
