News of the Day : 17 July 2019

Mumbai building collapse death toll goes up to 13, search on for survivors

The death toll from the collapse of a four-storey building in south Mumbai’s Dongri rose to 13 on Wednesday, with 10 injured, officials said, as rescue operations continued to find others trapped in the rubble.

Out of the 10 people, who were injured after the illegal extension of a 100-year-old Kesarbai building gave way, one is a fireman involved in the rescue operation and another has been sent home.

Follow updates on Mumbai building collapse here.

The extension of Kesarbai building, which housed 16 families and four shops on the ground floor, caved-in at around 11.40am, causing tremors in several dilapidated buildings in the low-income neighbourhood. The incident highlighted the decaying infrastructure of India’s crumbling financial capital that is corroded by poor oversight and monsoon showers.

Chief fire officer P Rahangdale said many adjoining buildings were rendered unstable and had to be evacuated. Some part of Kesarbai building was left standing after the collapse.

Cramped and crowded lanes leading up to the site made it challenging for rescue equipment to reach the building, added Rahangdale. Rescue personnel were seen clearing rubble and cutting through iron girders by hand, and taking the help of local residents, who had formed a human chain, to pass the debris.

There was no clarity on the number of people stuck under the rubble, which was yet to be fully cleared.

Building collapses are common in Mumbai during the June-September monsoon season, when heavy showers lash India’s largest city and weaken the foundation of already decrepit structures.

Earlier this month, multiple wall collapses killed 30 people. This was the deadliest collapse of a building since September 2017, when the 117-year-old Husaini building crumbled in Bhendi Bazaar, killing 33 people.

Ageing infrastructure, poor planning and a maze of conflicting by-laws, building codes and jurisdiction mean that no single authority is responsible for the upkeep of structures, leading to a cycle of accusation after each tragedy.

Within minutes of the collapse, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) clarified the building was owned by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA). It also confirmed that in July 2017, the BMC brought to the notice of Mumbai Building Repair and Reconstruction Board’s (MBRR) — a wing of MHADA — that the building was dilapidated and unfit for habitation.

A senior BMC officer told HT, “There is no doubt that the collapsed Kesarbai building is owned by MHADA.”

Hours later, Vinod Ghosalkar, chief of the MHADA repair board, denied that the agency owned the building.

“So the responsibility of evacuating it or taking action against any persons for its collapse does not rest with MHADA. This is an illegal building, even though it is in the middle of MHADA colony in Dongri,” he said.

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the building was roughly 100 years old and illegal, promising that an inquiry will be ordered.

“My condolences to the families of those who lost their lives,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted earlier in the day. “I hope the injured recover soon.”

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Chandrayaan-2 may get a 2nd shot after fixing a snag

A second attempt to launch Chandrayaan-2 may be possible by the end of July with scientists discovering that the glitch that led to an aborted lift-off an hour before scheduled on Monday morning can be fixed without the entire launch vehicle having to be disassembled, according to people familiar with the matter.

“The fuel from the launch vehicle has already been emptied out. There was a helium leak from the propellent team. The problem has now been discovered. A nipple joint valve in the plumbing malfunctioned. This can be repaired on the launch pad and there will be no need for disassembling the launch vehicle,” an ex-scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), who is still involved with the project, said on condition of anonymity.

Helium is used in cryogenic engines that use oxygen and hydrogen as fuel, such as the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III that will carryChandrayaan-2, in pressuring the propellant tank to keep it from collapsing and to prevent the formation of bubbles.

Helium is the only gas that can be used as its normal boiling point is lower than that of hydrogen; any other gas would freeze, producing particles that could clog the propulsion system, a scientist said.

GSLV Mark III, India’s most powerful launch vehicle with a capacity of carrying 4-tonne satellites, derives power from the cryogenic engine upper stage that uses oxygen liquified at -183 degrees Celsius and Hydrogen at -253 degrees Celsius. The first stage of GSLV Mark III uses two solid fuel rocket boosters for lift-off and the second core stage uses two liquid fuel engines.

In 2016, a “large breach” in the helium system led to an explosion destroying Space X’s Falcon 9. A similar helium leak in 2014 was detected early, and the mission was scrapped.

The early detection in the deviation of launch vehicle parameters on Tuesday morning saved the ₹978 crore mission at the eleventh hour. “This system performed precisely in the way it was designed to and we managed to save the nearly ₹1,000 crore mission in time. We were lucky that the mission did not enter the automatic launch sequence, else all would have been lost. All things are in our control,” a senior official from Isro said on condition of anonymity after the launch was aborted.

“Once the valve is fixed, Isro will refuel and check whether there is any leak. If not, the mission can proceed,” said the scientist quoted in the first instance.

There is a launch window for Chandrayaan-2 during the new moon on July 29 and 30. After that, the next such window will open only in September.

Chandrayaan-2 will make India the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to land a spacecraft on the moon. It will also be the first mission in the world to explore the South Pole of the moon, looking for traces of water.

“If Isro pushes the launch to next month, then the inclination of the orbit will have to be changed, leading to more fuel consumption, reducing the payload capacity of the vehicle,” the scientist said.

When contacted, a second Isro official said: “This is an internal process. There will be no updates for the public as of now. We will let you know once all the procedures are completed.”

Source – Hindustan Times

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