Rescuers sifting through the rubble of a five-storey building in Maharashtra’s Raigad district on Tuesday found a four-year-old boy alive and his mother dead under the debris, police said.
Thirteen people have died in the Monday evening collapse, with 12 bodies recovered on Tuesday. A man had died of cardiac arrest on Monday night after he was hit by a stone from the falling building, the police said.
The Tareq Garden building, which was around 10 years old, collapsed at Kajalpura in Mahad, around 170km from Mumbai, an official said. There were around 40 flats in the building, he said.
The boy, Mohammed Nadim Bangi, was taken by National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel to a waiting ambulance.
The dead include the boy’s 30-year-old mother Naushin Nadim Bangi and his two sisters, Ayesha and Rukaiya, aged seven and two years, the police said.
A video shared by the NDRF showed the rescuers taking out the boy from the rubble on a stretcher amid claps by onlookers.
NDRF director general S.N. Pradhan termed the rescued boy as god’s child.
“Miracle child rescued alive — Gods Child. NDRFHQ teams find 4 year old Boy. Ops will continue, canines used. Lets all pray for more miracles,” Pradhan tweeted.
The NDRF, police, residents and dog squads are working relentlessly to rescue people trapped under the debris, a police officer said, adding 13 excavators and other vehicles were engaged in removing it.
The police on Tuesday registered an offence against five people, including the builder and architect of Tareq Garden, the officer said.
The offence was registered against builder Farooq Kazi, RCC consultant Bahubali Dhamne and architect Gaurav Shah under Sections 304, 304A and 338 of the IPC, the officer said.