The death toll in the building collapse incident in Maharashtra’s Raigad district reached 16 as three more bodies were pulled out of the debris on Wednesday.
The deceased include seven males and nine females.
There is no likelihood of any more people buried under the rubble, an official was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
“Although there is no likelihood of any more people stuck under the rubble, the search and rescue operation is still on. The debris is being cleared,” Superintendent of Police, Raigad, Anil Paraskar said.
Meanwhile, the rescue teams comprising the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and police have been working round the clock since Monday evening.
The five-storied Tarek Garden building at Kajalpura in Mahad — which is around 170 km from Mumbai — collapsed around at 7 pm on Monday.
Three teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 12 teams of the fire brigade were rushed to the spot to carry out search and rescue operations. Canine squads were also deployed at the scene of the building collapse.
According to officials, the building, which had around 45 flats, suddenly came crashing down trapping at least 70 persons under the debris.
The building, said to be around 6 years old, was constructed by two Mumbai-based realtors.
Guardian Minister of Raigad, Aditi Tatkare said the building had more than 200 occupants, but many residents may have been outdoors or in markets in the evening.
A probe has been initiated into the incident and the Raigad Police on Tuesday registered a case against five people.
The Maharashtra government has announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the deceased and a financial assistance of up to Rs 50,000 to those injured in the incident
Maharashtra Minister Vijay Wadettiwar said that those who lost their houses should also be given some help and the matter will be taken up before the Cabinet today.
“We will not leave people responsible for this collapse; they murdered innocent people. Quality of construction material is very poor and easily breaks with hands,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, among others, expressed their grief over the incident.