Thane/Palghar: Torrential rains wreaked havoc across Maharashtra as several parts of the state witnessed major accidents on Sunday. A 17-year-old boy drowned in a swollen river, while a man was killed and two women were injured after a portion of a balcony collapsed in Thane and Palghar districts, officials said.
Incessant rainfall triggered a series of structural collapses and tree-fall incidents across the two districts.
In Navi Mumbai's Vashi Sector 11, a concrete slab from a second-floor balcony of the Ram Niwas Building collapsed, striking a man and two women.
The man, identified as Rajesh Shetty (35), later succumbed to his injuries, officials said. The two women are undergoing treatment at a hospital, they added.
Emergency response teams and civic personnel were dispatched to the site immediately after the alert to secure the area and clear the debris, officials said.
A 17-year-old boy drowned in the swollen Kamvari River in Bhiwandi town on Sunday evening.
The boy, a resident of Gaibi Nagar, had gone to the riverbank with his friends to catch crabs when strong currents swept him away, a civic official said, adding that efforts were underway to trace his body.
In Thane city, emergency services rescued five people trapped inside a two-storey building in the Diva area on Sunday afternoon after a concrete slab from a staircase collapsed, blocking the main exit, officials said.
Fire brigade personnel rescued the residents — Pradeep Malusare (50), Prajakta Malusare (42), Chetan Malusare (21), Ganesh Rane (48) and 14-year-old Aroshi Kumdekar — before clearing the remaining dangerous debris.
Earlier in the day, a large tree fell onto two houses in Yashoda Niwas Society in Pachpakhadi, Thane West, damaging their roofs, officials said.
"Work is underway to cut and remove the tree. No one was injured in the incident," said Yasin Tadvi, Chief of the Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC).
An eyewitness said a civic worker had a narrow escape when the tree collapsed.
In the neighbouring Palghar district, incessant rainfall led to the collapse of a wall in Vasai, officials said.
The under-construction compound wall of a housing complex gave way in the afternoon, crashing into an adjacent residential layout and crushing 15 motorcycles parked along the perimeter.
Firefighters from the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation (VVMC) rushed to the spot and cleared the debris, officials said.