A tragic landslide in Vikhroli in the wee hours of Saturday claimed the lives of two family members and left two others critically injured, once again exposing the city’s recurring monsoon vulnerabilities.

The incident occurred at a slope-side settlement in Varsha Nagar at Vikhroli Parksite. A sudden collapse of loose mud and debris, due to the incessant rains that the city witnessed overnight, engulfed a small hut where four members of the Mishra family were asleep. While Suresh Mishra, 50, and his 19-year-old daughter Shalu were declared brought dead by the AMO of Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar, his wife Arti, 45, and son Ruturaj, 20, were badly bruised.

According to eyewitnesses, no rescue teams arrived at the site immediately after the incident. Instead, it was neighbours and family members who frantically dug through the debris with bare hands and makeshift tools to pull out the trapped. “It was only when we brought all four down that we saw one police van arrive,” said Shiva Mishra, a relative who helped in the rescue effort. His statement highlighted the desperation and delay that compounded the family’s suffering.