MUMBAI: A total of 11 people were reported dead due to the heavy rains from Tuesday morning to the early hours of Wednesday, the police said. While six died in accidents, five of them drowned.
The first two mishaps were reported in Vikhroli, where three people, including two minors, died in two incidents of collapse. In the early hours of Wednesday, another house collapse was reported at Asalfa village, Ghatkopar, in which Rameshwar Tiwari (45) died and his wife Manju and son Krishna sustained injuries.
Meanwhile, a 30-year-old lawyer was found dead in his car in Sion on Wednesday morning. “Prima facie, we believe that he got locked inside his car after being stranded on the waterlogged street, and was suffocated to death. The police have sent his body for post-mortem and are awaiting reports,” said an officer with the Sion police.
Incidents of drowning were reported in Dahisar, Samta Nagar, and Madh Island jetty on Tuesday evening. Pratik Suneel (20) and Omprakash Nirmal (26) slipped into open drains while wading through waterlogged areas in Dahisar and Samta Nagar. Similarly, Rohit Chinnu (17) drowned at Madh after being caught in the waves during Ganesh immersion. The police also received a call about a man in his mid-50s falling into an open drain and drowning in Elphinstone Road on Tuesday night.
“Search operations are under way to find the bodies of those feared drowned,” said Mumbai Police spokesperson DCP Rashmi Karandikar.
The police, later in the day, found the body of Dilip Satyanarayan (32), a resident of Filter Pada, Powai, floating in the Powai lake. The police believe he fell into the lake on Tuesday.
At Azad Maidan, a group of 11 women from Dhule had arrived to attend a protest which got cancelled due to the rain. They were stuck at the ground as trains were suspended. The police moved them to the Mumbai Police Commissionerate compound, where they were given food and water till the rain abated.
