The children were playing over a rundown railway godown in Mazgaon when the ground gave way; while they escaped with injuries, piece of slab killed the goat tied beneath
The spot where the children fell as the ceiling caved in
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On the eve of Bakra Eid, 12 children in Mazgaon had a close shave with death, as they fell through the floor of a rundown godown in their neighbourhood. However, one of the goats tied in the godown lost its life after being buried under part of the fallen slab. The incident occurred at 6 pm at the railway godown, next to Pahari Masjid on Monday.
12 children from the neighbourhood were playing inside the railway compound in the evening, when the ground suddenly gave way, causing them and the goat to fall through. The animal died instantly but the injured children were all rescued within 15 minutes due to the timely action of residents.
The godown had been sealed years ago by the railway authorities, neighbourhood kids used to get through a small gap in the net. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar
Goat was crushed
“The goat died instantly as a part of the slab fell on him,” said Zain Kondkar (24), a resident of the area. “But since there were a lot of us around, we quickly grabbed a ladder and some rope and started pulling out the children one by one. Some people also dived in to save the kids.”
According to Kondkar, most of the children are between the ages of 8 and 12. He pointed out that most of the residents of the area—which is predominantly Muslim—used to keep their goats inside the godown before Bakra Eid.
“All the children used this as a sort of hangout spot before Bakra Eid, where they would show off and compare their goats,” he said.
Witness in shock
23-year-old Usman Qazi, who witnessed the incident, was in a state of shock. “I only want to go visit my friends in JJ Hospital,” he said between sobs. Usman had grabbed one of the kids’ hands in an attempt to rescue him during the collapse, but could not manage to pull him out; the kid fell. “I tried holding him but he fell...”
Too many kids
According to Zain’s father Hanif Kondkar (55), the godown is at least 50 years old. "Around 10 years back, a truck had fallen through the front part of the compound. The pillars inside regularly collapse, and bits of the ceiling are also falling. Even though the godown had been sealed years ago by the railway authorities, neighbourhood kids used to get through a small gap in the net [put up by the authorities] and go there to play cricket."
Only injured
Of the 12 children, four were rushed to Prince Aly Khan hospital. Most of them had injuries on their hands and heads. CT scans were conducted to determine if there was any internal bleeding. The children were later shifted to JJ Hospital, along with the other seven, who were directly taken there. 10 of them have been admitted to the hospital.
"So far, there is no news of death of any children. They have serious injuries on their head but as per the report, no internal injuries have been recorded," said a doctor who attended to the children.
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