Mumbai wall collapse: President Kovind, Amit Shah & others mourn loss of lives in Chembur

President Ram Nath Kovind along with Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday expressed their solidarity for the bereaved families and to the ones who died due to a wall collapse after overnight rains in Mumbai's Chembur and Vikhroli. 

In an official statement, the President conveyed his condolences while wishing them all success in relief and rescue operations. "Deeply saddened by the news of many casualties due to heavy rains in Chembur and Vikroli, Mumbai, I express my condolences to the bereaved families and wish them all success in the relief and rescue work," he maintained in the official statement.

Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh express condolences 

Home Minister Amit Shah took to twitter to express his solidarity with family of the deceased. He stated that he was 'heartbroken'. His tweet in Hindi roughly translates to, 'I express my deepest condolences on this irreparable loss to those who have lost their loved ones in this accident. May God give strength to the bereaved family members to bear this loss.'-

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh while expressing his condolences over the Chembur wall collapse incident said that he was in deep distress after hearing about the loss.

Mumbai on 'alert' mode

It may be noted here that the national weather forecast agency, India Meteorological Department (IMD) had on Saturday issued an 'Orange alert' in the city indicating “heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places”, along with chances of extremely heavy rainfall (over 204.5mm in 24 hours) in some parts. Following the overnight shower, several parts of Mumbai have reported waterlogging, disrupting the regular movement of commuters. Rainwater has even entered houses located in Hanuman Nagar and the Kandivali East area of Mumbai.

25 deaths so far, rescue operations on 

A total of 25 deaths have been reported so far in the incident in the city while rescue operations are on. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team that reached the incident site for conducting rescue operations maintained that the wall collapsed due to a landslide on some shanties in Chembur. Meanwhile, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, (BMC) confirmed the death of 17 people in Chembur's Bharat Nagar area. 

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 7) Prashant Kadam maintained that 5 people have lost their lives in Vikhroli due to the mishap and that the rescue operations are underway.