4 dead, dozens injured after billboard collapses during rainstorm in India

At least four people were killed and dozens were injured, while more than 40 people are feared trapped after a large billboard collapsed during a rainstorm Monday in Mumbai, India, officials said.

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The rainstorm in India’s financial capital was accompanied by gusty winds, causing the billboard, located next to a busy road in the eastern suburb of Ghatkopar, to collapse on some residences, Reuters reported.

At least 47 people were rescued and hospitalized, Devendra Fadnavis, deputy chief minister of Maharashtra state, told The Associated Press . He said an investigation was ordered into the accident while rescue operations continued.

Bhushan Gagrani, an official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation that runs Mumbai, told The New York Times that 64 people were injured and admitted to area hospitals.

Video on social media showed the 100-foot billboard shaking and billowing before it fell, the newspaper reported.

Photos from the scene showed emergency teams working at the wreckage site, with some using power tools to cut the metal, the BBC reported.

One witness, Swapnil Khupte, said that when the rains and wind began to worsen, he and his friends took shelter at a gas station near the billboard, according to the Times . He said that many of the victims trapped under the billboard were women and children.

“All the cars, bikes and people that were there got stuck,” Khupte told a local news agency. “We helped people get out and somehow manage to escape.”

There were temporary flight delays at Mumbai’s airport, Reuters reported.

Mumbai has a population of more than 18 million people. The city is located on a peninsula surrounded by the sea, according to the Times . Like many other Indian cities, it is prone to severe flooding and rain-related accidents during the monsoon season, which typically begins in June and runs through September.

The rains in South Asia are critical for India’s rain-fed crops planted during the season, but the heavy precipitation often causes extensive damage, the AP reported.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday expressed grief over the deaths, The Times of India reported.

”Sad to know that several people have died and many more trapped and injured in a massive billboard accident in Mumbai today evening, when the hoarding fell in a dust storm,” Banerjee said on X, formerly known as Twitter. ”My sincere condolences to the next of kin of the dead, and solidarity to the struggling survivors.”