MAHAD, India: Rescue teams and sniffer dogs searched the rubble for survivors on Tuesday after a five-storey apartment building collapsed “like a house of cards” in western India, with up to 70 people buried. The accident late Monday in the town of Mahad, south of Mumbai, forced three disaster response teams to work through the night, combing tin sheets, twisted metal and broken bricks. Officials said many residents of the 47 flats inside the building were spared because they had already fled the town to escape the coronavirus pandemic. Estimates of the number still trapped ranged from 20 to 70 after dozens managed to flee when the building began to buckle. Local politician Manik Motiram Jagtap told TV9 Marathi that the structure was 10 years old and built on “weak” foundations.

Source: Manila Times August 25, 2020 05:26 UTC