Building Collapsed in India; Left 27 People Fatal

At least 27 people have died and dozens have been injured after a building still under construction collapsed in western India, police said Friday.

The building, in Thane, about 10 kilometers northeast of central Mumbai, caved in on Thursday evening, injuring 59 people, said Digambar Jangale, a local police official.

Rescuers are still searching through the wreckage, he said, and five children are among those pulled alive from the rubble so far Friday.

Jangale put the death toll at 27, slightly lower than the 29 dead reported earlier Friday by CNN sister network IBN, which cited Manoj Gohad, a senior local official.

Gohad, who has the administrative title of deputy collector for Thane, told IBN that people were illegally occupying the first four floors of the building even though it hadn’t been completed or authorized.

Jangale said the eighth floor was still under construction when the building gave way.

The collapse might have been the result of poor construction, he said, but authorities are still investigating what caused it.

Police have registered a case of culpable homicide against the builder of the structure, who is yet to be traced, according to IBN.

Source: cnn.com