Mumbai billboard collapse crushes homes and cars, kills at least 14
World
Mumbai billboard collapse crushes homes and cars, kills at least 14
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Rescue workers used excavators to clear mangled metal debris in their final search for survivors trapped underneath a billboard that collapsed in India's financial capital of Mumbai, killing at least 14 people.
The billboard, bigger than an Olympic-sized swimming pool, crushed a fuel station, homes and cars during a thunderstorm on Monday, trapping more than a 100 people, according to authorities.
Rescuers worked through the night to pull people from the debris on the side of a busy arterial road in the Mumbai suburb of Ghatkopar.
Some 75 wounded were rescued and 14 bodies found, the city's civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, said.
"The operation was very challenging due to the weight of the structure and the presence of flammable liquid and gas at the site," Mohsen Shahedi, a senior National Disaster Response Force officer, told Reuters.
Shahedi said the rescue operation was nearly over except for one last sweeping search.
"We believe there is no one else stuck under the debris," he said.
