Navi Mumbai: One person died and seven others suffered injuries after a ceiling slab of the sixth floor of a housing society in Navi Mumbai collapsed and fell through the subsequent floors to the ground floor of the building on Saturday afternoon.
The incident took place in A-wing of Jimmy Park 1, Nerul, Sector 17 at 12.45 pm. A wing of the building consists of two flats on each floor. The floor collapsed of the A-601 flat which belonged to RS Rahamatulla. Nobody stayed in the flat but it is learnt that the ceiling floor of the flat collapsed while there was drilling work of the flooring underway on the sixth floor. Forty-two family residing in the building was shifted to alternate location.
The deceased Ventakesh Nadar (31), was a Microsoft employee. His parents stayed in Bengaluru. He had plans to visit Shirdi with friends, which were cancelled at the last moment. Nadar remained missing till 4.30pm after which, the fire brigade rescue team finally noticed his leg under debris.
Nadar’s childhood friend Abhishek Jha (30), who lived in a different society, said, “Before working with Microsoft, Nadar lived and worked in Vietnam. He has an elder brother who stays in the US and another brother in Dubai.”
Meanwhile, the rescuers had to cut the grills of the ground floor, second and third floor to rescue trapped residents. While some of them fell on the ground floor, others were stuck in the bedrooms. Two of the five rescued were shifted to DY Patil Hospital, while others with minor injuries were taken to a safe place in the residential locality.
“A notice was issued to the society on May 18 this year for a structural audit. The building is just 28 years old and the incident was unexpected. We have shifted the 42 families to the community centre. We have learnt that flooring work was happening at the sixth floor. We have asked the structural experts to investigate and find the cause of this collapse. We would also be checking the other buildings in the city constructed during the same period and by same builder,” said Navi Mumbai municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar.
Shakuntala Bhoir (62), resident of the room number 001 at ground floor was as usual in the kitchen, cooking lunch when she suddenly heard a thud and there was dust and smoke all around. “I had no idea what had happened. I started shouting for watchman asking him to rescue me. Then I realised that two women from above floors had fallen into my house who were shouting in pain. One was bleeding and I helped wipe her blood. By then watchman came and helped us come out. My son was in the bedroom, he too could come out without any injuries.”
Residents claimed that there were cracks and other issues with the building but the society did not take any steps. Shirish Chitre, the chairman of the society denied to speak to the media.
The contractor identified as Shaikh A Karim Sultan and his workers who were doing the work of flooring on the sixth floor and builder Ashutosh developers private limited who had constructed the society Jimmy Park 1, have been booked by Nerul police for causing death by negligence.