MUMBAI - A residential building has collapsed in India's financial capital of Mumbai, killing at least four people and trapping scores, in the latest accident to underscore shoddy building standards in Asia's third-largest economy.mini storageAt least 25 people had been rescued by late afternoon.Onlookers cheered as a girl was pulled alive from the rubble 11 hours after the collapse, which occurred at about 5.45am yesterday.Relatives of the missing wailed and clung to one another as heavy machinery removed the largest slabs of concrete.Dozens of rescue workers hacked away with crowbars at the flattened remains of what was once a five-storey building."My heart is thumping with fear. I am just hoping," said housewife Shanta Makwana, whose daughter and grandchildren were trapped inside the building, where she used to live."Around 80 to 90 people are believed to have been left behind in the build儲存ng and trapped," said Mr Alok Awasthi, the local commander of the National Disaster Response Force, indicating that the death toll could go higher.He said that the building, located in the city's south-east, was owned by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corp, the city's municipal government, and that most of the people who lived in its 22 flats were city employees.It was the third deadly building collapse in six months in Mumbai. At least 72 people died in April when an illegally constructed building fell down. In June, at least 10 people, including five children, died when a three-storey building collapsed.Buildings falling down have become relatively common in India. Massive demand for housing in its fast-growing cities and corruption have prompted some contractors to cut corners by using substandard materials or adding unauthorised floors.REUTERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE迷你倉
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