(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –Rescue workers pulled more than 60 people alive from the rubble of a collapsed building in an industrial town near India’s financial capital Mumbai, a senior official told Reuters on Tuesday, as rescue efforts continued.
The five-storey building in western Maharashtra state’s Raigad district, which housed roughly 200 residents, caved in on Monday evening.
“One resident was dead and at least 30 were still trapped,” said Bharatshet Maruti Gogawale, a local legislator in Mahad town situated about 165 km (100 miles) south of Mumbai.
The building was comprised of 47 flats, police officials in Mahad said in a statement.
Local residents and police combed through tin sheets, metal rods and other wreckage in a desperate search for survivors as ambulances ferried victims to nearby hospitals amid heavy monsoon rains and fears of COVID-19 infections.
NDRF rescue teams and canine squads were deployed to the scene of the accident.
