According to reports, the incident occurred on the fourth floor of ‘Happy Apartment’ at around 7.40 pm. Police informed that the incident reported when the entire Shaikh family was present in the house.
“They all were in the flat when a female family member who was present in the hall area fainted due to some illness. In order to help her, other family members who were in their bedrooms rushed towards her. However, due to their weight, an area of 5 square meters of floor caved in and collapsed on the third floor which was vacant. Neighbours and public on site rescued the people trapped under the debris,” an eyewitness told Herald.
Fire and Emergency Service personnel, who rushed to the spot immediately after the incident, evacuated other families who were living in the building located behind AXIS bank in Vasco. All the injured were taken to government hospital at Chicalim and then to GMC Bambolim.
The injured are identified as M D Salim (41), Husna (40), Mehjabi (35), Rukayya (28), Gulshanchan (24), Samrin (19), Zaiduddin (24), Tasniya (5) and Yusuf (2).
Meanwhile, a fire department official informed that the building was declared unsafe after an inspection.
“We have handed over the building to police department so that they can maintain vigil and prevent people from entering in the unsafe building. We had also informed the South Goa collector about the other unsafe building in Vasco so that some decision can be taken to avoid any untoward incident in future,” said fire officer Dilip Dicholkar.
