Fire erupts at Mumbai hoarding crash site; death toll rises to 16

Sparking a fresh scare in Mumbai on Wednesday, 15 May, a minor fire erupted in the vicinity of the petrol pump which was crushed after a monstrous hoarding crashed on it.

The incident took place ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled roadshow in Mumbai North East Constituency on Wednesday evening for party nominee Mihir Kotecha and he will also address two campaign rallies in Nashik and Kalyan.

Eyewitnesses said that as the rescue operations continue for the third day since the gigantic billboard collapsed on Monday afternoon, a gas cutter used to cut the heavy metal rods sparked a blaze.

The death toll in the incident meanwhile rose to 16, with two more bodies being located under the debris at the site of a giant hoarding collapse. The bodies were spotted last night, but were yet to be pulled out, a civic official said.

Rescue teams had earlier recovered 14 bodies from the hoarding crash site, while 75 persons were injured in the incident, as per officials. The search and rescue operation continued even 40 hours after the incident.

As the teams of Mumbai Fire Brigade were already stationed there, they managed to douse the blaze within barely 10 minutes.

There are no reports of any fresh damage or injuries in the latest instance and the rescue work resumed soon afterwards.

On 13 May, after Mumbai was lashed by a sudden dust storm and rain with strong winds, a gigantic private hoarding erected in Pant Nagar in Ghatkopar tumbled onto several houses and a petrol pump below.

So far 14 persons have been killed, another 88 injured, more than 60 people were rescued, and some persons are still feared trapped under the rubble.

In view of the petrol pump and its underground storage tanks at the spot, the rescue teams are carrying out mostly manual operations, avoiding the use of inflammatory equipment, etc. to avoid any other tragedy.