Thane building crash death toll climbs to 25 (Ld)

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Thane (Maharashtra), Sep 22 (IANS) The overnight death toll in the building collapse in Maharashtra's Bhiwandi town shot up to 25 with 12 more bodies recovered from the debris even as the search for more victims continues, officials said here on Tuesday.

The deceased include two infants, seven minors, eight men and five women, said an official of the Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation (BNMC), in what is now the biggest building crash of the current monsoon in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), in terms of fatalities.

Besides, another 25 persons have been rescued so far from the four-decade-old Jilani building in the Patel Compound, Narpoli, which collapsed around 3.45 a.m. on Monday morning.

Local rescue teams and the NDRF along with a dog squad saved over two dozen lives, and at least 10 other injured were admitted to various hospitals.

Cracking the whip, the BNMC late on Monday suspended two civic officials -- Sudham Jadhav and Dudhnath Yadav -- in connection with the crash and the Narpoli Police has registered a case against the builder Syed Ahmed Jilani, and others responsible for the tragedy.

Thane Guardian Minister and Urban Development Minister Eknath Sinde has ordered a probe into the lapses leading to the building crash and earlier announced an ex-gratia of Rs five lakh to the kin of the dead and free medical treatment to the injured.

Additionally, another 102 buildings in this minority-dominated powerloom township are declared as 'dangerous' and all the residents have been evacuated as a precaution, said the minister.

This is the second major building collapse in less than a month in the MMR. An eight-year-old five-storey building - Tarique Gardens - had crashed on August 24 in Mahad town of Raigad, claiming 16 lives.

--IANS

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