On the first effective day of the monsoon, a building collapsed on the night of Wednesday to Thursday in Bombay, the large city in western India.
At least eleven people, including eight children aged 18 months to 15 years, were killed.
Authorities in the western state capital of Maharashtra confirmed that seven other residents were injured.
Among them, a 30-year-old woman was hospitalized in critical condition.
A small four-story building collapsed onto a two-story building and a piece of land.
“As I rushed outside, I saw that three buildings including a dairy had been destroyed,” Siddiqui, a neighbor, told The Times of India newspaper.
Mumbai: Search and rescue operation continues in New Collector compound, #Malad West, where a residential structure collapsed last night.
11 people died, 7 injured.
Morning visuals from the spot (ANI) pic.twitter.com/AHFGK3IQqu
- YOU Mumbai (@TOIMumbai) June 10, 2021
Residents of neighboring structures whose condition appears to be precarious and dangerous have been evacuated.
Search and rescue operations continue on Thursday.
"Three people could still be trapped (in the rubble) and search operations are underway," said Prabhat Rahangdale, an official in the Bombay municipality, quoted by the Indian Express daily.
Red alert
The collapses of poorly constructed buildings are tragically common during the monsoon season that began in Mumbai on Wednesday, two days before the official date, with its share of flooding wreaking havoc on road and rail traffic on which many Indians depend. . Real estate prices are so high in the city, the country's economic powerhouse, that half of the 17-20 million inhabitants live in slums.
The Indian Meteorological Service (IMD) had issued an orange alert, indicating heavy to very heavy rain, for the next four days in parts of Mumbai. But he reclassified his alert in red in the afternoon of Wednesday. 222.2 mm of rain fell within 12 hours, or 44% of the average precipitation in June. This torrential pace is expected to continue until Sunday, with 200mm of rain every 24 hours. These intense episodes are coupled with strong tides which block the evacuation of rainwater through storm overflows.