At least eight persons were killed and over 60 others injured after a huge iron hoarding collapsed in Mumbai as heavy rains and dust storms lashed the city on Monday afternoon, bringing road and rail traffic to a near-standstill.
The 120 x 120 feet billboard fell on a petrol station at Cheddanagar Junction around 4.30 pm and several people are still feared trapped under the hoarding. The injured have been shifted to civic-run Rajawadi Hospital.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde visited the spot late in the evening.
"It was an illegal hoarding. The location where the incident occurred has four hoardings set up on the railway land and one of them has collapsed. The BMC had been objecting to (setting up) hoardings for one year," he said.
Mumbai Municipal Corporation commissioner Bhushan Gagrani told the media the hoarding was illegal as the authorities had not given permission for erecting it.
Meanwhile, flight operations at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport were suspended for an hour following the rains while the metro and sub-urban train services were also disrupted on several routes.
“As many as 15 flights were diverted to different airports and the runways operation resumed at 5.03 pm,” the airport authorities said.
The airport had only last week completed its pre-monsoon runway maintenance to ensure safe and smooth aircraft operations.
In another rain-related incident, an under-construction metal parking tower collapsed on a road amid gusty winds in Wadala area, injuring three persons and damaging vehicles.
In the western suburb of Jogeshwari, an autorickshaw driver was critically injured after a coconut tree fell on the vehicle at Meghwadi Naka.
Rains coupled with gusty winds were witnessed in the suburbs of Dadar, Kurla, Mahim, Ghatkopar, Mulund and Vikhroli, while parts of south Mumbai saw drizzles.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) Mumbai has issued a "nowcast warning", forecasting a thunderstorm accompanied by lightning and moderate to intense spells of rain for Thane, Palghar and Mumbai.
"Thunderstorm accompanied with lightning and light to moderate spells of rain with gusty winds reaching 40-50 kmph is very likely to occur at isolated places in Mumbai in the next 3-4 hours," it said.
The rainfall has brought some relief from the stifling heat, but traffic congestion and power outages have affected the normal life in several parts of the city.