Rescuers draw blank in second search at site of Bhiwandi house collapse after locals say they heard voices

india

Updated: Aug 25, 2019 11:35 IST

The Bhiwandi Nizampur City Municipal Corporation (BNCMC) deployed rescuers for the second time in 15 hours just past midnight after locals claimed hearing voices in the area where a four-storey building collapsed Saturday morning killing two men in Bhiwandi near Mumbai.

Fire brigade personnel and the Thane Disaster Response Force (TDRF) carried out a four-hour long operation before the BNCMC called off the search at 4.50 am after rescuers did not find anybody under the debris.

“Locals said they heard some voice under the debris. We did not take a chance and decided to inspect the area all over again. But no one was found under the debris,” said an officer of BNCMC, who did not wish to be named.

Santosh Kadam, chief of regional disaster management cell said, “We received a call from the Bhiwandi and with due permission from the Thane civic body chief we sent our team to check. No one was found under the debris though. The inspection was called off after four hours. People said someone under debris was calling ‘allah’. We checked the entire area but no one was there.”

The building in Shantinagar Bhiwandi collapsed early Saturday shortly after 22 families who were living there were evacuated safely by the fire brigade team of the BNCMC.

The building collapse Mohammad Aaqib Shaikh, 22, a resident of the building; and Siraj Ahmed Ali, 26,who lived in the same area. Shaikh went in with Ali and Abdul Aziz Sayyed, 65 — who is among the injured — to get his motorcycle which was parked in the building when it came crashing down.

The police registered a case against builders Munawar Ahmed Hussain Ansari and Saleemuneesha Ansari for culpable homicide and causing grievous hurt by an act endangering life. Munawar was arrested Saturday night.