Dozens feared trapped as multi-story building collapses in Mumbai

PanARMENIAN.Net - A multi-story building collapsed in India's financial capital of Mumbai early Friday, Sept 27, sending rescuers racing to reach more than two dozen people feared trapped in the rubble. There were no immediate reports of casualties, according to the Associated Press.

Local television NDTV reported that at least 25 people were believed to be in the five-story residential building near Dockyard Road when it collapsed after dawn in the city's southeast.

It was the latest of several Mumbai building collapses this year.

At least 72 people died in April when an illegally constructed building fell down, and a few weeks later a section of a hospital crumbled, injuring at least eight. In June, at least 10 people, including five children, died in when a three-story building collapsed.

Across India, building collapses have become relatively common. Massive demand for housing around India's fast-growing cities combined with pervasive corruption often result in builders cutting corners by using substandard materials or adding unauthorized floors.

At least 12 people have been killed in a building collapse in the southern Indian city of Secunderabad in July. 11 people have been killed after an apartment building collapsed in western Indian city Vadodara in August.