On 4 April 2013, a building collapsed on tribal land in Mumbra, a suburb of Thane in Maharashtra, India. It has been called the worst building collapse in the area. Seventy-four people (18 children, 33 men and 23 women) were killed, while more than 100 survived. The search for additional survivors ended on 6 April 2013.
The building was under construction and did not have an occupancy certificate for its 100 to 150 low- to middle-income residents. Living in the building were the site construction workers and families. It was reported that the building was illegally constructed because standard practices were not followed for safe, lawful construction; land acquisition and resident occupancy.
By 11 April, a total of 15 suspects were arrested including builders, engineers, municipal officials and other responsible parties. Governmental records indicate that there were two orders to manage the number of illegal buildings in the area: a 2005 Maharashtra state order to use remote sensing and a 2010 Bombay High Court order. There were also complaints made to state and municipal officials.
On 9 April, a campaign began by the Thane Municipal Corporation to demolish area illegal buildings, focusing first on "dangerous" buildings. The forest department said that it will address encroachment of forest land in the Thane district. A call centre was established by the Thane Municipal Corporation to accept and track resolution of caller complaints about illegal buildings.
Collapse
At 6:30 pm IST (13:00 UTC) on 4 April 2013, a building collapsed in the Shil Phata area<ref>"Death toll in Thane building collapse mounts to 72." The Hindu Business Line. 6 April 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2013.</ref> of Mumbra, a suburb of Thane in Maharashtra, India."India building collapse near Mumbai kills 45." BBC News. 5 April 2013. Retrieved 5 April 2013.Shoaib Ahmed, CNN-IBN. "Thane building collapse: 67 dead, marathon rescue operation still on." CNN-IBN 5 April 2013. Retrieved 5 April 2013. The building collapsed quickly. First, a section of the building collapsed, it tilted, and then the entire building was brought down. A witness described the event, "The building collapsed like a pack of cards within three to four seconds."
According to Hasina Shaikh, a school girl who lived on the fifth floor with her family: "I had just returned from school and was changing when the building started shaking and came down on us... When I regained consciousness later, I was in the hospital." She says she considers herself lucky to be alive. One survivor is a 10-month-old girl whose parents had not been found as of 6 April 2013. Reuters reported the last survivor was rescued on 5 April, a woman who was "found after workers heard her voice and used camera equipment to pinpoint her location under the rubble."
Dubbed the "miracle survivor", a four-year-old girl, Sandhya Thakur, was pulled from the wreckage. She was unable to open her eyes, but awoke on 7 April 2013 to the awareness that she had suffered a disaster. Her father and six brothers and sisters are missing; Her mother died when the building collapsed. She is physically unharmed, but having a hard time adjusting psychologically.
According to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, payments of 50,000 will be made to the injured, and a 200,000 payment will be made to the next of kin of the deceased.
Building occupied while under construction
The building containing offices and apartments was under construction for six weeks prior to the disaster, but there are varying reports on the extent of the construction completion. The Times of India reported that "Twenty-five tenements on five storeys were complete and the sixth and seventh floors were under construction." Although there was no occupancy certificate, the first four storeys of the building were illegally inhabited by site construction workers and families. In addition to families of construction workers, there were also families headed by rickshaw drivers and/or those whose children attended tuition classes in the building. It is believed that the builder wanted the building to be inhabited to prevent it being demolished.
The developers, who intended to build up to 8 such illegal buildings, intended to sell the apartments for 1,100 to 1,400 per square foot. On average, the apartments were 175 square feet.
Land ownership
The building had come to the attention of the Municipal Commissioner RA Rajeevsaid because the building was said to be built illegally on forest land. Research into the collapsed building's land ownership has determined that it was owned by a tribal family, and the adjoining lot was owned by the forest department.