At least 14 people were killed and 43 injured when a four-storey building on Dockyard Road in Mazgaon collapsed around 5.45 am Friday. Rescue operations were carried out by fire officials of the BMC and three teams of the National Disaster Response Force. About 40 more residents are feared trapped under the debris. The BMC said that illegal alterations by a company that runs decorator business in the ground floor caused the collapse. Rajendra Bhosale,deputy municipal commissioner,BMC said the civic body has lodged a complaint against Ashok Mehta of Mamamia Developers Private Ltd,who is licensed with the BMC. It is a pancake collapse similar to the Lucky Compound building collapse in Mumbra on April 4 this year, said Alok Avasthy,Commandant,5th Battalion,NDRF. The 33-year-old building housed the families of Class III and Class IV employees of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on its upper floors,while the ground floor was a civic market. Farzana Shaikh,who lives just a few metres away from the building,said: I had woken up as usual at around 5.30 am and was in the kitchen when I saw the building collapse. It was gone in a matter of seconds. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan,who visited the spot and JJ Hospital,convened an emergency review meeting with senior BMC officials. Categorised as a dilapidated structure in the C-2 category,the building was in need of urgent repairs. The civic administration had,however,not yet begun any repair work.
