Fifteen people have died in Pune after a portion of the wall of a residential building collapsed early this morning after heavy rain. Among the dead four children and a woman.

Dramatic visuals showed several cars stuck in debris in Pune's Kondhwa area. The wall crashed down into tin sheds next to the apartment complex, taking down the parked cars as the ground caved in. The sheds were built for labourers working at a construction site nearby, the police said.

Rescue personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the fire department are at the site of the accident, searching for people who may be stuck. The wall collapsed at around 1:45 am, an official said.

The injured have been taken to a nearby hospital.

"Our team is investigating the reasons behind the incident. Firm action will be taken against those responsible. We will check whether proper permissions were taken and safety measures were followed," Pune police chief K Venkatesham told reporters.

"Construction was going on in a nearby plot and labourers were staying in tin sheds. Debris of the wall fell on those tin sheds. A joint operation was launched by the fire department, Pune Police and the NDRF," NDRF officer Sadanand Gawde.

Pune saw heavy rain on Friday. The city has been seeing heavy rain since Thursday. As of last night, Pune received 73.1 millimetres of rain in 24 hours, the second highest rainfall in June since 2010.

Eight people were killed and five injured in rain-related incidents in Maharashtra on Friday.

In Mumbai, three persons were killed and five injured as the city received it first spell of heavy rain this monsoon that marked its most delayed arrival in the city in 45 years.

Early this morning, a wall collapsed on an auto-rickshaw in Mumbai's Chembur. There are no reports of anyone injured.

Source: NDTV

BDST: 1009 HRS, JUEN 29, 2019

AH