Mumbai hoarding crash: Toll increases to 16 as two more bodies found under debris

Mumbai: Two more bodies were located under the debris at the site of a giant hoarding collapse in Mumbai taking the toll in the accident to 16. The bodies were spotted last night, but were yet to be pulled out, a civic official said.
Even as the search and rescue operation continued on Wednesday, reports in Marathi media suggested that a weak foundation could have been the reason for the collapse. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) permits hoardings that are up to 40 feet tall (and up to 40 ft in width). However, the one that fell on a petrol pump in Ghatkopar was a giant 140ft hoarding.

For stability, such display boards should have a at least 7 ft or 8 ft foundation. But this billboard only had a 3 ft foundation which wilted under heavy wind and unseasonal rain, media reports said.

Meanwhile, the blame game has already begun between the Railway authorities and BMC officials on who gave the permission for such a huge billboard, local media said.

Rescue teams had earlier recovered 14 bodies from the crash site, while 75 persons were injured in the incident, as per officials.

A small fire broke out at the incident site in Ghatkopar during the search and rescue operation on Wednesday morning, but it was immediately doused by the fire tenders deployed there, an NDRF official said.

The search and rescue operation continued even 40 hours after the incident, officials said. 

The illegal hoarding that stood on a piece of land in possession of the Government Railway Police (GRP) crashed on a petrol pump in Chheda Nagar area on Monday evening when the city was hit by dust storms and unseasonal rains.
(With PTI inputs)