Thane: seven workers killed as construction lift of highrise crashes

At least seven workers were killed when the construction lift in a 40-storey building, which is under construction, collapsed on Sunday evening in the Balkum area in Thane city of Maharashtra, officials said.

Yasin Tadvi, who heads the disaster management cell of Thane Municipal Corporation, said it was a construction lift and not the regular elevator.

"The workers had finished water-proofing work and entered the lift at the 40th floor when the lift came crashing down at around 7:30 pm and landed in P3 (three levels underground in the parking area)," he said.

The building is located off the Ghodbunder Road.

Prima facie, one of the supporting cables of the construction lift snapped, leading to the incident which occurred at around 5:30 pm, he added.

After receiving the information, a team of Regional Disaster Management Cell and Fire Brigade personnel rushed to the spot and pulled out the workers from the basement parking.

"It was immediately not clear how the lift cable malfunctioned," Tadvi added.

The deceased labourers have been identified as Mahendra Choupal (32), Rupesh Kumar Das (21), Harun Sheikh (47), Mithlesh Vishwakarma (35), Kari Das (38), and Navin Vishwakarma.