MUMBAI, India — At least 13 people were killed and dozens injured Friday when a five-story apartment building collapsed in Mumbai, India’s financial capital, officials said.
Rescuers were working to reach those trapped in the rubble. They pulled out a small girl alive nearly 12 hours after the structure caved in.
A cheer erupted from hundreds of onlookers who began chanting “baby, baby” when rescuers working in a drizzling rain plucked the young girl out of a tunnel dug through the rubble. At least 32 people were rescued, but more than 30 others were still missing and the search continued, said Alok Awasthi, local commander of the National Disaster Response Force.
Sunil Prabhu, the city’s mayor, told local news channels that 22 families were living in the building, which reportedly imploded shortly after 6 a.m.
Most of the residents were thought to be at home.
Officials said the building, which is in south Mumbai near the dockyards and the Babu Genu market, was more than 30 years old and being renovated.
Television video showed orange cranes working in the large rubble field in a bid to free those still trapped as worried relatives waited nearby for word of their missing loved ones. Fire trucks and ambulances waited nearby.
“We will work all night. We’ll work 24/7 without stopping until everyone is found,” said Awasthi, adding that additional rescue teams from the nearby city of Pune had been called in to assist.
The cause of the collapse was not immediately known, but Mumbai’s municipal government said it was forming two committees to investigate the disaster and audit other buildings in the city that could be vulnerable.
Such accidents often happen during the monsoon season, analysts said, when foundations settle, materials lose strength and roofs must support more weight.
Building collapses are common in South Asia, given poor building standards, corrupt inspectors, crowded conditions and substandard materials.
In June, a residential building known as Aftab Mansion in the Mumbai suburb of Mahim West collapsed, killing 10 people. And in April, at least 72 people died when an illegally constructed building in the city’s outskirts disintegrated.
From 2008 to 2012, 100 buildings collapsed in the city, resulting in more than 50 deaths and 100 injuries, officials say.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
