Three people were killed when the slab of a building they were repairing collapsed on Friday afternoon, in south Mumbai's Zaveri Bazar area, police said.
Officials said that four persons were trapped in the debris after the slab collapsed and brought down with it the common passage of the first, second, third and the fourth floors of the building. One person is still missing.
A fire official told PTI that the slab of the five-storeyed building collapsed and brought down with it the common passage of the first, second, third and fourth floors of the building.
The incident happened at around 2:30 pm in Sam Street in the area. The building was undergoing repair when the collapse occurred.Fire officials to PTI
PS Rahangdale, chief of the Mumbai Fire Brigade said:
Ten labourers were working on the fourth floor of the building, of whom three are missing. Six labourers were working on the first floor, and one among them is missing. A search operation is underway for them.
He said that narrow lanes and congestion was hampering the work of fire brigade personnel at the site.
Zaveri Bazar is the centre of the city's bullion market and sees heavy traffic and pedestrian footfall every day.
There has been more than one instance of buildings collapsing in Mumbai and neighbouring districts in the past year.
In July, a building collapse in Ghatkopar area left 17 dead and several injured. According to residents of the Siddhi-Sai Cooperative Housing Society, the pillars of the building weakened due to renovation work of a nursing home on the ground floor, owned by Shiv Sena worker Sunil Shitap, leading to the collapse.
Earlier on 24 November, four people were killed and several others injured after a four-storey building collapsed in Bhiwandi in Thane district.
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