Landslide in Mumbra kills seven

A landslide caused due to the incessant downpour claimed seven lives in Mumbra on Thursday evening. It is the second major landslide in Mumbra after 2005, in which five persons including three children died.

The landslide took place at Sainik Nagar below Mumbra Hill at 4.30pm on Thursday. A huge portion of the hill collapsed on Eknath Chawl because of the rains. Two rooms of the ground plus one storey structure of the chawl got completely buried under debris before two families staying in those rooms could vacate it.

Local residents immediately started rescue work but ambulance and fire brigade could not reach the spot due to the hilly topography of the area. Intermittent showers also disrupted rescue work. After one and half hour, people could be rescued from debris, but six persons had died by the time.

Deceased were identified as Rima Patel, 30, Raj Patel, 5, Amit Patel, 9, Shantidevi Yadav, 30, Umesh Yadav, 34, Seema Patel, 10, and Madhuri Yadav, 8. Among the injured were Rakesh Patel, 35, Neha Patel, 11, and Shamsher Sheknoor.

Rafik Sheikh, a resident said he heard a loud thud and before anybody could make sense of it, two rooms got buried under mud. “Since it was a holiday, children were at home and they got stuck inside,” he said.

The police have filed a case against the developer of the chawl.