At least 70 feared trapped in India building collapse: police

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MUMBAI, Aug 24, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – At least 70 people were feared
trapped after a five-storey apartment building collapsed late Monday
in western India, police said.

The building comprised 47 flats, police in the town of Mahad — 120
kilometres (75 miles) south of Mumbai — said in a statement.

The cause of the accident was not clear but building collapses are
common during India’s June-September monsoon, with rickety structures
buckling under the weight of non-stop rain.

“Fifteen injured people have been rescued and taken to hospital,”
Mahad police said.

Rescue teams and canine squads were deployed to the scene of the
accident, a statement from India’s National Disaster Response Force
said.

The monsoon plays a vital role in boosting agricultural harvests
across South Asia. But it also causes widespread death and
destruction, unleashing floods, triggering building collapses and
inundating low-lying villages.

The death toll from monsoon-related disasters this year has topped
1,200, including more than 800 lives lost in India alone.