Mumbai: Labourer saw 7 men plunge 8 floors as he held on to parapet

The morning of February 16 2016 will be etched on the mind of Mohammad Shamim forever as he watched seven of his colleagues crash to the ground from seventh floor of an underconstruction building at Chougule Nagar in Borivli East Shamim too had a brush with death While he managed to cling on to the parapet of the eighth floor after the bamboo scaffolding the eight men were standing on gave way the remaining seven were not as lucky as himI felt the bamboo under my feet slipping I just threw whatever was in my hand and jumped towards the parapet said Mohammad ShamimOne of the victims succumbed to his injuries while being rushed to Shatabdi hospitalRecollecting his ordeal Shamim said ldquoI feel fortunate for not being among those lying on the ground in a pool of blood They were my friendsrdquoMohammad Shamim fell from the eighth floor of the underconstruction building in Borivli East PicSwarali PurohitA labourer from Bihar Shamim had come to Mumbai just three months ago after one of his friends told him about an employment opportunity at the construction siteldquoNone of us were wearing safety harness We have been working like this since the construction began We all were working on the part between the seventh and the eighth floor and stood on the scaffoldrdquo said Shamim adding ldquoSuddenly I felt the bamboo under my feet slipping down I realised that it was coming off I threw away whatever I had in my hands and lunged for the parapet above me Fortunately I managed to hold on to the parapet of the eighth floor And before I could heave a sigh of relief the entire scaffold crashed beneath me All my seven friends vanished right before my eyes When I looked down all I could hear was their screams for help Two of them were soaked in their own bloodrdquoHowever Shamimrsquos initial thought of being lucky faded after he realised that those attending to the injured on the ground had failed to spot a man hanging for his dear lifeldquoDespite people rushing to my friendsrsquo aid none saw me I screamed for at least 1015 minutes but to no avail What made matters worse was the debris of the scaffold had bruised my back leaving it sore But I held on and told myself that I didnrsquot want to die and be one of themrdquo Shamim saidAnother labourer working on the third floor finally spotted Shamim and rushed to his aid Motibur Rehman said others were so busy in rushing the injured to the hospital that they did failed to spot Shamim ldquoI heard his screams for help and pulled him to safety with the help of two other workers We used bamboos to pull him up Thankfully he clung to the parapet despite a sore backrdquo Rehman addedDoc speakWhile fire officials and police rushed to the spot upon receiving information the injured were already taken to Shatabdi for treatmentSpeaking to midday a doctor said ldquoWe performed Xrays and MRI scans to see the extent of injuries While one of them died on his way to the hospital two are in ICU and the four who sustained multiple fractures are being treated in the orthopaedic ward One of them was brought in with minor injuriesrdquoCop speakSenior Inspector Prakash Jadhav from Dahisar police station said ldquoAn FIR has been registered against Chougule builders under Section 304A causing death by negligence The bamboos and the ropes used to tie them were very old The incident took place because the weak structure collapsed under the workersrsquo weight Secondly none of the workers were wearing safety harness The harness would have broken their fall