Wall of vacant house collapses in Thane; no casualty

Thane, Jul 28 (PTI) A wall of an unoccupied house collapsed in Maharashtra's Thane city in the wee hours of Monday, officials said.

No casualty was reported, they said.

The wall of the single storeyed house located in Lokmanya-Savarkar Nagar area crashed at 1.58 am, Thane Municipal Corporation's disaster management cell chief Yasin Tadvi said.

A local resident informed the disaster management control room about the incident, he said.

The house was nearly 20 years old and lying closed and unoccupied for the last seven to eight years, the official said, adding it was not listed among dangerous structures identified by the municipal corporation.

"The wall of the house has fallen and some part of the remaining house is in a dangerous condition," Tadvi said.

After being alerted, local police, disaster management team, fire brigade, civic and power officials reached the spot.

"For safety reasons, the area has been barricaded. The one side wall of the house had collapsed, and the remaining structure was assessed to be hazardous. The dangerous part of the structure was demolished using a JCB machine," the official said.

Authorities have urged residents to remain alert during the ongoing monsoon season and to report any signs of structural vulnerability in their neighbourhoods. PTI COR GK