The death toll in Wednesday’s landslide in Antop Hill area shot up to five, as fire brigade officials recovered three more dead bodies from under the debris.
Earlier on Wednesday, while carrying out rescue operations, fire brigade officials had recovered two dead bodies of a father-son duo. On Thursday, the body of a woman and her two children were retrieved.
“A three-member family was crushed under the impact of the landslide. They have been identified as Sultana Sheikh (25) and her two sons Arif Sheikh (2) and 18-month-old Rizwan Sheikh,” a fire brigade official said.
A hillock in the vicinity of the Sheikh Mistry Dargah Road at Antop Hill had collapsed on Wedn-esday, crashing down on five tenements of Devram Chawl, which is situated below it. In the incident, Ramavtar P. Kewat (47) was killed on the spot, while his son Sandeep (22) later succumbed to grievous injuries in the hospital. The landslide occurred at around 8 am.
According to the BMC’s disaster control cell, another injured youth, Salim Sheikh (27), was brought out alive from the debris. He is battling for life at Sion Hospital.
Meanwhile, chairperson of NGO Athak Sewa Sangh, Anil Galgali has dashed off a letter to governor of Maharashtra requesting him to direct the state government to take immediate action to prevent further loss of life of people living in hilly areas.
“CM Prithviraj Chavan and top officers should take responsibility for having failed to rehabilitate the people living in 22,483 hutments at hill side areas in Mumbai,” he said.