Partly demolished building crashes in Mumbai, casualties feared

Mumbai, Aug 26 (IANS) Three slabs of a partly demolished seven-storeyed building crashed here on Saturday trapping a few labourers working there and casualties are feared, officials said.

The building, Crystal Business Park, at Chandivali in north-central Mumbai, was being demolished at the time of the incident, said an official of BMC Disaster Control.

According to a local eyewitness P.S. Menon, the tragedy occurred when one of the four massive cranes working atop the building suddenly started wobbling and then hurtled down from the top floor of the skeletal structure.

The weight and impact of the falling crane led to at least three slabs of the building crashing down with it around 5.15 p.m. on Saturday and causing the remaining structure to tilt dangerously in the direction of an adjoining residential building, Woodland Heights.

"We had lodged several complaints with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, local police and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board on the dangerous condition of the building in the past one year, but nobody took any action," said Menon.

Teams of Mumbai Fire Brigade and other agencies, which rushed to the site, have rescued at least one person from the debris and work was underway to rescue others though heavy rain hampered operations.

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