Mumbai: In the early hours of Wednesday, around 3.48 am, amid the ongoing wet spell, residents of Ashok Nagar in Ghatkopar, a landslide-prone area of approximately 1,000 residents, were jolted awake by the sound of debris and boulders crashing down the hillside. A large peepal tree was also uprooted in the incident, which claimed seven lives and left seven others injured.Civic data shows Mumbai has seen 95 landslide incidents over the past six years, resulting in 39 deaths and 28 injuries.Among the deceased in Wednesday’s tragedy are Arif Halim Shaikh (28), his wife Marjina Arif Shaikh (27) and their two children Aban Arif Shaikh (2) and Mannat Arif Shaikh (4). The Shaikh family had reportedly arrived in Mumbai from Uttar Pradesh just four days ago. Another deceased was Viket alias Rahul Yadav, who was helping his widowed mother meet the family’s expenses. The two other deceased were Sahil Husain Abdul Kadri (19) and Mohammed Sayeed Ansari (14). The seven injured were Sohail Ansari (18), Mohamad Ansari (14), Naimuddhin Iqbal Khan (28), Sajid Ansari (16), Farana Dilber Khan (28), Dilber Amnulla Khan (38) and Shamin Muslim Khan (26).Rescue teams who reached the spot found that around eight people were initially feared trapped under the debris. A search and rescue operation was immediately launched in the presence of the local ward-level officials, NDRF personnel, local police and fire brigade officials. Around 70-75 personnel, including BMC workers, private contractor workers, fire brigade personnel and NDRF teams, were involved in the operation. By 2 pm, a total of seven bodies had been recovered from the debris and sent to Rajawadi Hospital, Ghatkopar, and civic-run Bhabha Hospital in Kurla for postmortem.Since the landslide occurred before daylight, it made the initial rescue operation particularly difficult. “The congested and narrow lanes leading to the affected houses added to the challenge, with rescue machinery unable to reach the site easily. NDRF and fire brigade personnel had to form human chains to move debris and carry out the search operation,” said additional municipal commissioner Avinash Dhakane, who was also at the disaster site, adding that the disaster site was so narrow that it allowed only one person to pass at a time.BMC authorities also pointed out that residents in this vulnerable location had previously been warned and advised to move to safer areas during the monsoon, when the risk of landslides increases. Officials suspect that the recent spell of rain may have weakened the rocks and soil on the hillock. Continuous rainfall over the past two days could have seeped into the rocks and weakened the rock and root systems, triggering the collapse of boulders and the uprooting of the tree.Locals said the houses at the lower end of the landslide-prone hillock were the worst affected, as debris and boulders came hurtling down from the upper portion of the slope directly onto the structures below. Anil Sandade, an idli maker operating from Ghatkopar railway station who lived in the area, said, “The boulders came falling from three separate sides leading to some entrances into the locality completely getting blocked.” Sandade (45) said he was born in the same area and hence believes the locality could be easily around five decades old.Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde, who visited the site, announced financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh to the next of kin of each person who lost their life in the incident. She also announced Rs 50,000 in medical assistance for each injured person to help cover treatment expenses.Assistant municipal commissioner of L ward Anil Jadhav said that the entire area was on collector land. “Only houses before 2011 are protected structures while the remaining are all illegal,” said Jadhav.Ghatkopar police have registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) in connection with the landslide. Police personnel were present at the site and assisted the fire brigade and other agencies in the rescue operation. “We have recovered seven bodies, while the injured have been shifted to various government hospitals. After receiving information that some more houses in the vicinity were located in a danger zone, we, along with BMC officials, evacuated around 50 houses. The affected families have been shifted to accommodation arranged by the BMC or to the homes of relatives,” said DCP Ganesh Shinde (Zone 7).Police said relatives of the Arif family have requested that the bodies of all four family members be taken to their native place in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh. The police are facilitating the necessary permissions and procedures for transporting the bodies.