At least 70 people were feared trapped after a five-storey apartment building collapsed late Monday (24) in western India, police said.
The building comprised 47 flats, police in the town of Mahad -- 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of Mumbai -- said in a statement.
The cause of the accident was not clear but building collapses are common during India's June-September monsoon, with rickety structures buckling under the weight of non-stop rain.
"Fifteen injured people have been rescued and taken to hospital," Mahad police said.
Rescue teams and canine squads were deployed to the scene of the accident, a statement from India's National Disaster Response Force said.
The monsoon plays a vital role in boosting agricultural harvests across South Asia. But it also causes widespread death and destruction, unleashing floods, triggering building collapses and inundating low-lying villages.
The death toll from monsoon-related disasters this year has topped 1,200, including more than 800 lives lost in India alone.
President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, prime minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and others meet the flydubai crew members, including Indian Captain Smit Machchhar who got injured in an attack by his co-pilot on a flydubai plane, in Dubai. (@DXBMediaOffice/X via PTI Photo)
