Thane: Regional Disaster Management Unit officials said that two people had been killed and at least 22 others were fear trapped when a residential building collapsed in Bhiwandi town in Thane, the home district of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, on Saturday afternoon.
At around 1 p.m., a 10-year-old ground-plus-three storey building collapsed in the Vardhaman Compound in Wall village on the outskirts of Bhiwandi.
District and police officials, together with medicos, fire fighters, the Thane Disaster Response Force, and other organisations, went to the scene shortly afterward to begin rescue and relief efforts.
Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj, Kapil Patil, who represents the Bhiwandi Lok Sabha constituency, also went to the scene, along with Collector Ashok Shingare and other officials.
Eleven injured people were rescued from the rubble and taken to the government hospital by Saturday evening.
Two bodies have been recovered so far; those of a woman called Laxmidevi R. Mahato (26) and a man named Navnath Sawant (40) have been turned over to the police for autopsy and other formalities.
At least 22 more people may still be buried under the rubble, and rescuers are working hard to find them.—Inputs from Agencies