11 dead in Mumbai building collapse
(CNN) New Delhi – Authorities are scrambling to rescue survivors from the rubble of a three-story building that collapsed in a working-class neighborhood of Mumbai this morning (August 310.
Eleven people were killed and 20 were rescued and sent to hospital, according to Deven Bharti, the joint commissioner for law and order of the Mumbai Police.
The building was more than 100 years old, Bharti said.
“We are still assessing how many people might have been trapped,” Mumbai police spokesman Rashmi Karandikar told CNN.
Today’s collapse comes after heavy rains and flooding in Mumbai this week, which have killed at least five people. Authorities would not say if the incident is connected to the rainfall.
South Asia has seen an historic amount of rain and flooding this month, the height of monsoon season.
More than 1,200 people have been killed in India and Bangladesh and some 41 million have been affected by flooding, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Nepal has also been hit hard.
Today’s building collapse is the second significant one to hit India’s financial hub this summer. More than a dozen people were killed when a five-story building collapsed in the Ghatkopar neighborhood in July.
In May, a wall collapsed at a wedding, killing 24 people.
Deadly infrastructure accidents are not unusual in India. Critics say construction projects often lack proper oversight and safety controls.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Bystanders rush to the scene of the collapse this morning. Photo: CNN
Inset: Indians wade through a flooded street during heavy showers in Mumbai on Tuesday. Photo: CNN
SOURCE: CNN written by Sugam Pokharel and Joshua Berlinger
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