Maha building collapse: Death toll 15, rescue ops called off

The authorities called off the rescue operation around 11.30 am on Wednesday as all the 17 missing persons- 15 deceased and two rescued, were traced, the official said.

At least nine others, who suffered injuries in the incident, are undergoing treatment in a hospital, he said. The five-storey building - Tareq Garden- in Mahad town, around 170 kms from Mumbai, collapsed on Monday evening.

"The bodies of a 70-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman were recovered in the early hours of Wednesday. This took the death toll in the incident to 15," Superintendent of Police, Raigad, Anil Paraskar told PTI. The teams comprising the personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and police, local disaster management team, trekkers and local residents, were engaged in the rescue operation.

"As all the 17 persons who had gone missing after the incident, including 15 victims, were traced, the rescue operation was called off," Paraskar said. Till late Tuesday night, bodies of 13 victims had been recovered.

On Tuesday, a four-year-old boy was pulled out alive from under the rubble 19 hours after the incident. A 60-year- old woman was also rescued 26 hours after the building collapse. "Both of them are safe and undergoing treatment at hospital," the official said.

Police had on Tuesday registered an offence against five persons, including the builder and architect of Tareq Garden in connection with the incident.