Dozens dead in Mumbai building collapse

As many as 50 people are confirmed dead, and dozens are still missing, after a five-story building collapsed in Mumbai at day-break on Friday in the latest accident in India's financial capital, Reuters reports.

This is the third deadly building collapse in six months in Mumbai. Shoddy construction and lax inspections make such disasters a common occurance in India.

At least 32 people have been rescued, but many more were still missing and the search continued, said Alok Awasthi, local commander of the National Disaster Response Force.

Relatives of the missing wailed and clung to one another, as heavy machinery lifted the largest slabs of concrete away. Dozens of rescue workers hacked away with crowbars at the flattened remains of what was once a five-story building. 

Local people put the number of residents usually inside the apartment complex as high as 60, while officials fear the number might be higher.

"We will work all night. We'll work 24/7 without stopping until everyone is found," Awasthi said, adding that additional rescue teams from the nearby city of Pune had been called in to assist.

The building collapsed just after 6 a.m. near Dockyard Road in Mumbai's southeast.

Awasthi said it was owned by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corp., the city's municipal government, and that most of the people who lived in its 22 apartments were city employees.

Seventy four people died in April when an illegally constructed building fell down. And in June, at least 10 people, including five children, died when a three-story building collapsed.

Across India, building collapses have become relatively common. Massive demand for housing around India's fast-growing cities combined with widespread corruption often result in builders using substandard materials or adding unauthorized floors.

Al Jazeera and wire services