Ghakopar building collapse: After chaos of day 0, death strikes on day 1

The threestoreyed bungalow that caved in at Ghatkopar East on Sunday morning left a 53yearold man and his 94yearold mother trapped for hours Naresh and Alka Palande who live on the first floor of bungalow number B7166 were still trapped at the time of going to press after a portion collapsed Meanwhile three people were rescuedAccording to eyewitnesses in the Chittaranjan Nagar area there was a loud rumbling sound around 920 am after which parts of the structure started to cave in Ajinkya Wani a family friend of the Palandes said Arayn who lives on the first floor managed to escape safely in the nick of time ldquoHe heard some shouts from outside and came near the window As soon as the building started to tilt to one side he jumped out of the windowrdquo Ajinkya saidEyewitnesses claim there were voices coming from collapsed portion but they stopped by noon PicSatej SindePeople trappedAraynrsquos father Naresh a real estate agent and grandmother Alka are trapped in the building ldquoThey are tenants here for the past 56 years because their colony close by is under redevelopmentrdquo Ajinkya said Aryanrsquos mother Varsha was at her parentrsquos home in Mulund along with his younger sister Riya when the incident took placeSanjay Palande a relative said ldquoWe rushed here as soon as we learned about the crash The rescue operations have been on since morning but the team has been unable to reach them The first and ground floors of the building have fully sunk The second floor came to the ground levelrdquo Another relative said Naresh Palande was in the bathroom and his cell phone was on the bed while Alka was in her roomHeard noiseLocal resident Jayesh Shah said there was a ldquodifferentrdquo noise and after some time he got to know that a building had collapsed ldquoAs soon as we reached the spot we saw the second floor come down to the ground floorrdquo he saidEyewitnesses also claim there were voices coming from the collapsed portion but they stopped by noon Meanwhile Mihika Jambosari and her husband were rescued by the fire brigade from the third floorThe Palande familyAccording to sources the colony was developed by Maharashtra Housing and Area and comprised row houses at the time However two and threestoried bungalows started coming up after 1990 No official permission was taken for this But the BMC officials did not confirm these allegations However the society has been convened long back said a MHADA official ldquoThe bungalow owner Rohit Kumar Chapatwala who lives with his family in Australia has taken permission from the BMC to construct Some houses may have had illegal construction Action is taken against these by our estate department Such action has been taken only a few days agordquo said the official According to BMC data the bungalow does not feature in the dilapidated list NDRF personnel were trying to enter the collapsed portion but were facing limitations ldquoWe also created a small hole in the wall and tried gaining access to the collapsed portion but couldnrsquot find a wayrdquo a fire bridge officer saidAround 6 pm the NDRF decided to demolish the walls in the upper part of the building ldquoWe are reducing the load on the building by demolishing the walls Then we will try to enter the building from the upper side as well as from the lower portionrdquo said Sarang Kurve assistant commandant NDRFSanjay Palande and Ajinkya WaniA local resident Sachin Datar who has been friends with Naresh for 45 years told midday that the family earlier lived in a society not very far from the accident site ldquoThey had their own house there since the 1960s but that is currently under redevelopment so they moved to this rented houserdquo He described Naresh as the ldquosocial workerrdquo of the area Datar reached the spot as soon as he heard the news and stood in the heavy rain hoping to see his friend againAnother local resident Mansukh Patel said he used to meet Naresh every morning for walks ldquoI did not know him too well but we used to exchange greetings He always seemed like a kind personrdquo The rescue operations went on till the time of this report Parts of the building which locals said was 35 years old were being torn down to rescue Naresh and his 94yearold motherA fireman said that the building leaned on the side of the road If it had leaned on the side building whose wall is adjacent to it it would have posed a danger to the other building as well The BMC also evacuated the side building ldquoThe rescue operation is our priorityrdquo Deputy Municipal Commissioner Devidas Kshirsagar said Meanwhile the police took statements from Aryan who managed to escape from the window and his wife Varsha who wasnrsquot home at the time of the incidentPet CoCo trappedA pet named CoCo of the Cocker Spaniel breed belonging to the Palande family is also stuck in a collapsed building However locals said they hadnrsquot heard the sound of a dog since the collapse