At least two people suffered injuries after 50 houses collapsed in Jharkhand as the earth caved in its Dhanbad district.
No casualties have been reported so far.
These houses have been located above the Jharia mine fire area for the last 40 years.
The houses started caving in at midnight when most of the locals were asleep and they got no opportunity to save their belongings. Panic gripped the people as the walls started collapsing with a deafening sound.
Local legislator Dullu Mahato, said mostly slum dwellers lived in the houses that were as yet unoccupied.
“The wall of the nearby house collapsed at around 11.50 at night. People of the slum tried rescue work. But at 3.55AM the entire wall caved in. There has been a loss property worth around 20-30 million rupees. I waded through the debris to rescue my family members,” said Mahato.
The local administration had issued an alert to residents as an underground fire in the nearby mine had been resulting in the collapse of several houses.
Meanwhile, a slum dweller Govind Hazari, said most of the belongings of the victims remained buried under the debris.
“I woke up at 3am (21.30GMT) and I saw the floor collapsing. While we were collecting out belongings, the wall collapsed and people got buried under it and the floor caved in 30 feet under,” said Hazari.
The affected slum dwellers have been shifted to camps arranged by the local administration until the debris is cleared.
Another such incident was reported on October 09 in Bangalore when a building had collapsed due to rain, killing two, including a child. (ANI)