‘We’ll vacate tomorrow’: Hours later, Mumbai man lost wife, four children in building collapse

The family had been residing in the shanty, made of tin sheets and a patra roof, for the past two years. (Express Photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee)

The collapse claimed the lives of his wife, Akhtar Jahan (38), daughters Kaisar Jaha Moinuddin (14) and Anabiya Moinuddin Shah (3), sons Jalaluddin Moinuddin (9) and Serajuddin Moinuddin Shah (6), and Aliya Allauddin Shaikh (6), a child from the neighbourhood who had come over to play with the children.

The Mankhurd collapse accounted for six of the 10 rain-related deaths reported in Mumbai over the past two weeks, during which the city has received nearly 60 per cent of its annual rainfall.

Residents said the four-storey building had started tilting and its tiles had begun crumbling on Sunday morning. The building, which housed three families and a furniture godown, was vacated by its occupants after neighbours noticed signs of distress. Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde later described the structure as “completely illegal”.

Kaisar Jaha Moinuddin (14), eldest daughter of the family.

“As the nearby building had started collapsing, we had plans to vacate our home within the next one day. I told my kids that we will somehow manage this one night and then vacate the house the next day,” recalled Moinuddin.

A native of Uttar Pradesh’s Basti district, Moinuddin was born and brought up in Mankhurd. His family had moved into the Janta Nagar shanty nearly two years ago and lived there on rent.

The sole breadwinner of the family, Moinuddin worked as a contractual labourer who often worked on Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) projects.

“My children were very bright and they studied in the Shivaji Nagar Municipal School,” said Moinuddin.

Anabiya Shah (3)

Unable to recover from the shock of losing his entire family, Moinuddin was in no condition to participate in the post-mortem formalities at Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar. Around 15 relatives, including his uncles, cousins and members of his wife’s family, gathered outside the hospital’s post-mortem department to complete the necessary formalities.

“Since the incident, Moinuddin has been in shock. He has barely spoken,” Akhtar’s nephew, Nisaar Ahmad Shah (37), told The Indian Express.

The family decided to take the bodies to their native village in Uttar Pradesh for the last rites. At around 4 pm on Monday, the bodies of Akhtar and the four children were placed in an ambulance and taken to Uttar Pradesh. Moinuddin was brought to the hospital with the support of relatives, who held him on either side to help him walk. Still in shock, he was barely able to stand as the bodies of his wife and children were taken home for their final journey.

Jalaluddin Moinuddin (9)

Meanwhile, relatives recalled that Aliya Allauddin Shaikh (6) had come over to play with the children shortly before the collapse.

“Aaliya was a good friend of my children and would frequently come over to our home to play. She had just come in when the incident occurred,” Moinuddin said.

Six-year-old Aaliya Allauddin Shaikh’s grandfather and father sat outside the post-mortem department of the hospital, unable to stop crying.

Her grandfather, Aftar Shaikh, said, “I work as a tailor. A month ago, my daughter, Noorjahan, moved here with her husband and children in search of better work. My son-in-law recently got a job as a supervisor in a transport company, so the plan was to get them settled here so that the children could have a better education and a better future.

Anabiya Shah (3) and Serajuddin Moinuddin Shah (6)

“They were staying with me temporarily. Earlier, they all lived in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur district, and we were planning to get them a house here. Back in the village, my son-in-law practised farming. Aaliya had also recently been admitted to a school. When this incident happened, around the same time, her younger brother, Jayan Shaikh (1.5), was undergoing an operation at Wadia Hospital after developing an infection in his arm.”

Unable to speak further, he said, “I feel so horrible. How do I manage this grief? My son-in-law is not in a condition to speak. Look at him, he is sitting here in shock. I don’t know how to handle my daughter; she is devastated in the Wadia Hospital managing the son alone there. I have to stay strong to hold them all together. I feel this would not have happened if they hadn’t moved to my house.”

Akhtar Jahan (38)

In Rajawadi Hospital’s trauma ward, 23-year-old Rehan Ali, a crane operator, is being treated for injuries, including a fracture to his right hand.

Recounting the incident, Rehan said, “The building that collapsed had become dilapidated. I lived on the ground floor, while around 20 people lived on the first, second and third floors. At the time of the incident, six of us were on the ground floor. We noticed that the walls were shaking and immediately called the landlord. We had started vacating the house. I went back inside to collect a few belongings, and that’s when the building collapsed. I was trapped and suffered these injuries.”