THANE: An elderly couple was killed and six others injured when a two-storey building, which was declared as "most dangerous" by municipal authorities, collapsed in Bhiwandi here this morning, the second such mishap in the powerloom town in a week.
Around 7-8 persons were still feared trapped in the building, officials said.
Eight injured persons were pulled out from the debris of the collapsed building, located on Khadan Road in Hanuman Tekadi locality.
Out of them, the two seriously injured persons, building's owner Sajjanlal Mahadev Gupta (60) and his wife Satyawati Sajjan Gupta (55), died at a hospital, Resident Deputy Collector Vandana Suryavanshi said.
The six others injured were admitted to hospital.
The 35-year-old building, which crashed at around 8 AM, was declared as "most dangerous", according to a release of the Bhiwandi Nizampur Municipal Corporation.
The disaster control teams from Thane and Kalyan were rushed to the spot immediately upon receiving an alert, while local firemen were also pressed into action.
An NDRF team has reached the powerloom town and is carrying out rescue operations with the help of local agencies, Suryavanshi said.
On getting information about the building collapse, Municipal Commissioner E Ravinderan and local tehsildar Vaishali Lambate also rushed to the scene and supervised the rescue operations.
According to a spokesman of the Bhiwandi civic body, the building occupants were earlier served evacuation notices, following which two of the around 5-6 families residing there vacated the place while the others stayed back.
The water connection to the building was snapped when the occupants had refused to vacate and the power supply was also going to be cut soon, the spokesman said.
On July 31, a two-storey residential building had crashed amid heavy rains claiming eight lives, including that of four children and three women, while 10 others were injured.
Thane District Collector Dr Mahendra Kalyankar today ordered Bhiwandi Nizampur Municipal Corporation to immediately evacuate all residents from 'dangerous' buildings in the powerloom town.
The direction comes in the wake of the second building collapse in the town within a week.
Meanwhile, the rescue work of the 42-member NDRF team, which rushed to the town, was hampered due to rains even as search operation was on for at least six persons feared trapped in the building debris, district disaster management cell officer Asmita Nikam.
She also said that the Collector, who reviewed the situation jointly with Municipal Commissioner E Ravinderan, has directed the authorities to issue certificates to the tenants who are evacuated from the dangerous buildings.
This will enable to protect their rights in case of development of such buildings, she said.