Mumbai, Sept 4: Five children who were playing cricket in the Jubilee Mills compound at Sewri, were crushed to death on Saturday when a 40-feet high wall against which they had taken shelter to escape the rains,collapsed on them, Mumbai Mirror reported.
Taufiq Sheikh,17,Sufiyan Shah,18,Gulam Moinuddin Khan,12,Atiq Hasanali Choudhary,12 and Mohammed Saif Ali Shah,11,paid with their lives for not listening to their parents warnings against playing in the heavy rain.All five of them were buried under the debris of the wall of Jubilee Mills.
Rubin Shah,who was also playing with the five kids escaped because he had gone to relieve himself just seconds before the wall collapsed."We all were playing cricket in the afternoon and when it started raining heavily we ran towards the wall to take shelter."But as I wanted to relieve myself,I went to the other side in the rains and few seconds later I heard a loud noise and saw the wall crash down on my friends.
"I was really frightened and ran into our chawl to alert the elders, he said.Ayub Sheikh,Taufiq Sheikhs father,who was in shock, said, "We had told him not to go out and play in the rains ,but he didn't listen to us."It was raining heavily,so no one really came to know about the wall collapse.It was Rubin who came crying into the chawl and informed us", he added.
Harshad Kale,Assistant Commissioner of F-south ward said, "As it has been raining heavily for the last one week, there would have been water seepage in the wall,and unfortunately it came crashing on the kids."Since there was a lot of debris,the children probably died due to suffocation and shock."
When asked whether any action will be taken against the owner of the mill, Kale said, "As the area was not open to public, private developers cannot be prosecuted and the wall did not seem dangerous on visual inspection.
"But our officials from the Building Proposal Department will inspect the site and contact the original owner and developer to take remedial measures."Mumbai Commissioner of Police Arup Patnaik visited the spot late in the evening.Sunil Jain, senior police inspector, Kalachowky, said : " We are in the process of registering a case against the owner of the land. "
