New Delhi: At least six people were killed and four injured after a portion of a hillside collapsed onto homes at Gaushiya Chawl in the Ashok Nagar locality of Chirag Nagar early on Wednesday. The landslide was reported at 3.48am, when most residents were asleep, and debris fell on two to three houses.
Three children were among those killed, according to civic officials cited by The New Indian Express. Four to five people were still feared trapped as rescue teams continued searching the site.
The casualty count rose steadily through the morning as people were pulled from the debris and taken to hospital. Early reports had put the toll at two before officials confirmed six deaths.
Narrow lanes slow rescue operations
Teams from the Mumbai Fire Brigade, Mumbai Police, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and National Disaster Response Force were deployed for the operation. Rescuers also used specialised victim-detection cameras to search for signs of life beneath the debris.
Access has emerged as one of the biggest challenges.
The densely built settlement is connected by narrow lanes, limiting the movement of heavy machinery and forcing rescuers to rely on smaller equipment and manual removal of debris in parts of the affected area.
Officials have also had to work cautiously because of loose soil and rocks on the slope, with the possibility of further movement posing a risk to rescuers and residents.
Mayor visits site, announces compensation
The Mumbai mayor, Ritu Tawde, and the city’s additional municipal commissioner, Avinash Dhakne, visited the affected area and reviewed the rescue operation. Tawde announced financial assistance of ₹3 lakh for the family of each person killed, with the amount to be disbursed through the district collector’s office, NDTV reported.
The administration has asked agencies at the site to maintain coordination as the search continues.
The immediate focus remains on accounting for residents who may still be trapped beneath the collapsed homes and hillside debris.
The landslide followed spells of heavy rain across Mumbai and surrounding areas. The incident has again drawn attention to densely populated settlements built close to steep slopes in the city’s eastern suburbs, where intense monsoon rain can increase the risk of soil and debris giving way.
Civic authorities routinely identify landslide-prone locations before the monsoon and issue warnings to people living in vulnerable areas. Residents of weak or unauthorised structures near unstable slopes are also advised to move to safer locations during periods of heavy rain.
The latest accident shows the difficulty of translating such warnings into effective protection in crowded settlements where relocation options can be limited.
Toll comes under scrutiny
The Chirag Nagar landslide is the latest fatal rain related incident in Mumbai this monsoon.
In July, six people, including five children, were killed when a multi-storey shanty collapsed in Mankhurd. A 60-year-old man was also killed after falling into an open manhole in the Chandivali area during heavy rain, an incident that led the BMC to suspend four officials and order an inquiry.
Such incidents have kept Mumbai’s monsoon preparedness under scrutiny despite extensive annual measures to tackle flooding, unstable structures and other rain-related hazards.
The latest landslide adds another concern, the vulnerability of homes built immediately below steep and unstable slopes.