BOLT FROM THE BLUE

The first day of the work week went from sweltering to sombre in the space of a couple of hours in the afternoon.

- RUCHA KANOLKAR

The sky turned ominous and it was hard to decipher whether there was a dust storm or a thunderstorm brewing in the distance. Shortly after, there were hellish gusts of dust, followed by heavy rain - the ferocity of both these events could be gauged from the tragic trail of death and disaster they unleashed in their wake. Eight people lost their lives, 74 others were injured, train and metro services were disrupted, trees fell and there were massive traffic jams across the city and extended suburbs. 61 of the injured have been admitted to Rajawadi Hospital, Ghatkopar east, while three have been admitted to the trauma care hospital at Jogeshwari.

Municipal An illegal outdoor hoarding of Mini Max Pacific Digital Co (parent company - Ego Media), measuring 120'x120', near the Bharat Petroleum outlet on the Eastern Express Highway in Ghatkopar east) fell on the gas station, trapping at least 100 people, seated in cars or standing nearby.

Even though the collapse took place at 4.15pm, it was 7pm by the time the bodies were extricated from the mangled metal. The disaster management team arrived only around 6pm, by which time the fire brigade and a 60member team from the Metro 4 line at the Amar Mahal site, equipped with four hydra cranes, 500 MT cranes and four gas cutters, had already plunged into rescue operations.

Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani said the maximum size permitted for hoardings is only 40'x40'. The illegal hoarding was located on land owned by the Government Railway Police (GRP) and it is not clear on what basis the police gave permission for a giant hoarding.

Late evening, an FIR was filed against the hoarding company at Pant Nagar police station under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder besides other sections of the IPC. The directors of the Mulund-based Ego Media are Janhavi Sonalkar, Bhavesh Bhinde and Karan Pujara.