THANE: A 62-year-old woman was killed and her 26-year-old relative injured after a portion of a building balcony collapsed on them in Mumbra’s Lucky Compound early Tuesday, officials said.
The victims, identified as Nahid Jamali and Ilma Jamali of Kausa, were walking past the building near Madina Masjid around 1 a.m. when debris from the balcony of a terrace flat in the 25-year-old, ground-plus-three structure came crashing down.
Passersby rushed the duo to hospital, where Nahid was declared dead on arrival. Ilma is undergoing treatment for her injuries at another private facility.
Fire brigade teams later removed unstable parts of the balcony to prevent further mishaps, and four families living in the building were evacuated. The structure has since been sealed, said Yasin Tadvi, chief of Thane Regional Disaster Management Cell.
A ward-level team of engineers will inspect the building to determine its stability. Authorities have also urged structural audits of ageing buildings across the city to avert similar incidents.
The accident occurred in the same locality that witnessed the 2013 multi-storey collapse, one of Thane’s deadliest building disasters.
