10 dead, 60 injured as rain brings down two Mumbai buildings

At least 10 people died and 60, most of them school children, were injured when two old buildings collapsed in south Mumbai on Wednesday following heavy rains, fire service officials said.

At least 30 children, attending classes in a school building in south Mumbai's Byculla area, suffered minor injuries when the balcony of a higher floor came crashing down on them. Those injured were administered first-aid at the nearby state-run J.J. Hospital, fire service officials said

The school building collapse came within a couple of hours of the collapse of a 70-year-old building in the congested Bhendi Bazar area of south Mumbai.

The four-storey 70-year-old Rangoli building, on the Datta Mandir road in the Bhendi Bazaar area of south Mumbai, came crashing down around 5.35 a.m. this morning, catching most victims unaware in their sleep.

By afternoon, the fire brigade managed to extricate bodies of 10 victims from the debris. It is not known how many more people are still trapped in the debris since intermittent rains hampered relief and rescue work.

The fire brigade has rescued 30 persons who sustained major or minor injuries and they have been rushed to J.J. Hospital.

These are the first two major building crashes in Mumbai this monsoon in the vulnerable southern parts of the city where some of the oldest structures continue to stand precariously. The two affected buildings are located barely 2 km apart.