Raigad building collapse: A woman is rescued after she spent 26 hours under debris of a building
Mumbai:
It was a moment Mehrunissa Abdul Hamid Kazi won’t forget for a long time. After spending 26 hours trapped under debris of concrete and steel, Ms Kazi finally made it out on Tuesday night with the help of rescuers from a small hole at the site where a five-storey stood before it collapsed in Maharashtra’s Raigad.
Breathing from a portable oxygen mask strapped to her face, Ms Kazi is seen in visuals being carried out from the rubble by a group of rescuers in bright orange safety coveralls. A film of dust covers her clothes and hair.
Earlier in the day, a four-year-old who had been trapped for over 19 hours was rescued by National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel.
The five-storey residential building with 45 flats, which was seven years old, collapsed on Monday evening. The rescue work that started soon after the incident is still going on as the NDRF teams look for survivors in the debris.
Thirteen are dead and several are still missing. A case has been filed against the contractor and architect of the building.
What led to the building to collapse is under investigation. Several similar accidents, however, have been reported during monsoon. A two-storey building also collapsed in Dewas in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday.
A resident of the building in Raigad, Mustafav Chaphekar, said the work on the structure was substandard and plasters had been peeling off since he and his family came to live there in 2013, news agency PTI reported.
Mr Chaphekar said the problems increased in the next two years, after which they met the builder, who was reluctant to carry out repairs.
“The builder told us that he had constructed the building and given it to us, and it was up to us what we do with it,” said Mr Chaphekar, who ran out from the building just before it came crashing down.
