Dozens trapped in Mumbai building collapse

Rescuers are trying to reach more than two dozen people feared trapped after a multi-storey building collapsed in India’s financial capital of Mumbai.

Local television NDTV said at least 25 people were believed to be in the five-floor residential building near Dockyard Road when it collapsed after dawn in the city’s south east.

Five storied building collappess in mumbai . pic.twitter.com/wQegXXRcyg

— bharatharajan (@highcourtfirst) September 27, 2013

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-storey 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 using substandard materials or adding unauthorised floors.

A rescue official at the scene said there were no confirmed deaths as yet and nine people had been pulled alive from the building.