Man survives Thane building collapse

Thirty-seven-year old Imran Siddiqui was lucky to survive and escaped with some fractures, but 13 of his family members including his eight-month pregnant wife perished when the seven-storeyed illegal building suddenly turned into a massive heap of debris here. Siddiqui, originally hailing from Delhi came to Mumbra, sometime ago in search of a good job but little did he realise that his dreams of making it big in Mumbai would soon crash with a life-altering collapse. He lived in the ill-fated structure with his deceased wife Shakila and around 15 of his cousins, 12 of whom are dead. Lying with fractured legs at the Kalwa hospital here, he was inconsolable when Chief Minister Prithviraj Chauhan visited all the patients on Friday enquiring about their condition. Grief-stricken by the untimely death of his wife, who was in the family way, Siddiqui continued to recount the horror of the foetal damage, when the body of his wife was rushed to the hospital last evening. The tragedy has left him so shocked that he was unable to remember the names of his killed relatives. "Hamare to sabhi log chale gaye. Ma, baap bhai behan, and bibi bhi. Muje kuch madad karo naa," (I have lost my entire family including my wife...Please help me) Siddqui urged Chavan when visited the patients. "Aapko toh malum hai. Meri bibi peth se thi aur woh bacche ke sathi chali gai is hadse me," (My wife was carrying...This mishap has taken away both my wife and child), he said. To which a visibly moved Chavan, assured him all possible help. The unauthorised structure, which according to locals had come up in just two months at Shil Phata at Daighar here, crashed last evening around 6.30 pm leaving 41 dead and 60 injured. Of the injured, 36 have been admitted to various hospitals in Thane, while five seriously wounded have been shifted to J J Hospital and Sion Hospital in Mumbai.