Monsoon fury claims 11 more lives in Bombay

Eleven more people died as rains lashed Bombay till early Saturday, taking the toll in the heavy downpour to 13.

Rail and road traffic remained paralysed till Saturday afternoon as Santacruz recorded 34.6 cm rain and Colaba 24.6 cm.

Stranded passengers swarmed the Churchgate and Chhatrapati Shivaji termini in south Bombay. Huge serpentine queues could be seen at all bus stops.

As the weatherman warned of ''very heavy rain and thunderstorm'' under the influence of a deep depression near Seoni in western Madhya Pradesh, four people were killed in Bombay and seven others in New Bombay.

Five bodies including those of two children and a woman were recovered from an open drain at the Turbhe quarry zone in New Bombay. The victims were the residents of a hutment colony built on the slopes of Parshik hill range. The fate of a woman and an eight-month-old infant is still not known.

In Bombay, one person was killed and seven others injured when a wall collapsed late on Friday night. The incident occurred near the Naval Armament Depot on Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg in north-east Bombay.

In another incident on Saturday morning, a four-year-old child died and seven others injured when three huts were washed away at Milind Nagar, Bhandup in north-east Bombay. Another child, aged 18 months, died due to drowning as water entered the hutments in Kherwadi, Valmiki Nagar in south Bombay.

At Antop Hill in central Bombay, a 13-year-old boy was electrocuted when he touched an electric meter.

Meanwhile, two major lakes supplying water to the city -- Tansa and Vaitarna -- have started overflowing on Saturday morning. The Powai, Vihar and Modak Sagar, officials say, are still below the overflow levels. "But these too will be flooded if the city and the suburbs witness heavy rains in the next 24 hours," an official said.

As for rail services, the Central and the Western Railway could resume their services only on Saturday afternoon. However, the Harbour line was still in a shambles when reports last came in. Only one outstation train, the Hyderabad Express, left Bombay on Saturday and several long distance were cancelled.

UNI

EARLIER REPORT:
Heavy downpour halts Bombay