Rescue operations were on to recover victims from the debris of a 60-year-old building that collapsed on Friday in Mumbai.
Rescue workers using cranes and bulldozers continued to search through the wreckage of the collapsed building.
Eight disaster control teams and ten fire engines were dispatched to the site. The rescue team members saved a young man, who was trapped under the debris. The man was immediately rushed to the hospital.
The mayor of local civic body or Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Sunil Prabhu, who was inspecting the ongoing rescue operations, said the prime focus was on saving people and not on any enquiry into the accident.
"It is believed that the building was 60 years old. Our prime focus is on the rescue operations. We are trying to save people who are still trapped. The civic body is being assisted by the residents in the rescue operations, which are in full swing," he said.
At least 50 people are reported to be trapped under the debris of the building.
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Meanwhile, a former corporator of the locality, Suresh Jadhav, alleged that the five-storeyed building had cracks on it and collapsed, as no initiative was taken by the authorities to repair it.
"I have been asking the authorities to renovate and repair the building since 2007. This accident has occurred because of delay in repairing the building," he said.
A shortage of cheap homes in Asia's third-largest economy has led to a rise in illegal construction by developers who use substandard materials and shoddy methods in order to offer rock-bottom rents to low-paid workers.
Middle-aged Shanta, an eye witness, said the building collapsed at around 6 a.m. this morning. She said that she was not in a position to work after seeing the tragedy.
There has been no confirmation of injuries or casualties.
Earlier this year, at least 70 people had died after a building had collapsed in the Thane area in western India.
A sharp rise in property prices in densely populated Mumbai over the past five years has put housing out of reach for tens of thousands of lower earners, many of whom moved to the city in search of jobs, and who now sleep on the streets or in slums.
In 2012, India's urban housing shortage was estimated at nearly 19 million households, according to a report by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation.
Many Indian buildings do not conform to safety regulations, with owners constructing extra floors or structures without approval from the concerned authorities and beyond the sanctioned floor space index (FSI) or floor area ration (FAR).