Tragedy Strikes as Car Parking Lift Collapses in Mumbai's Borivali

One person lost his life, and another was injured after a car parking lift at an under-construction high-rise in Borivali collapsed on May 31 afternoon. The victims were workers appointed by a contractual firm who were carrying out the installation of the lifts when the mishap took place.

Car parking lifts are hydraulic platforms that use vertical lifting mechanisms to maximize parking space. Instead of parking cars horizontally, a car parking lift stacks vehicles vertically, allowing more cars to be accommodated in a smaller footprint. In Mumbai, considering there is a dearth of available open land parcels, real estate developers are opting for vertical parking facilities to maximize space usage.

However, with the emergence of these new facilities, collapse incidents have also become regular occurrences. Earlier, in March 2024, two persons sustained serious injuries after a similar car lift crashed in Mumbai’s Khar area at the western suburbs. Before that, in January 2023, one person died after a vehicle lift collapsed on a laborer in a residential building at Vikhroli.

According to the disaster cell of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the deceased who lost his life on Saturday’s incident has been identified as Shubham Dhuri, 30, while the injured person has been identified as Sunjeet Yadav, 45.

“The platform of the car lift which is used for lifting vehicles inside a parking lot collapsed, falling seven meters deep into its pit, and two victims got trapped underneath the structure. Following this, the Mumbai Fire Brigade reached the spot and the trapped persons were rescued and sent to the hospital,” said a civic official.

Civic officials said the two persons were workers who were installing the lift in the building when it fell on them. The official said that Dhuri’s neck and legs got stuck underneath the superstructure following which he became unconscious, while Yadav’s foot got stuck. However, he was conscious.

“Before we arrived, the locals tried to bring them out from underneath the structure, but they failed. We used a hydraulic jack to lift the structure following which the two were pulled out,” said an official of the Mumbai Fire Brigade.

The incident was reported around 12 noon on Saturday. After the two men were taken to the hospital, Dhuri was declared dead, while Yadav was reported to be in a stable condition.

Meanwhile, civic officials said a team of structural consultants carried out an inspection at the site following the incident. The officials said the installation of car parking lifts is included in the original construction design which is approved by the BMC’s development plan (DP) department while giving permission to the developer for going ahead with the work.

“Now that a mishap has happened, we have asked the contractors to get the entire area inspected and submit a report to us since the building is still in the under-construction stage. Therefore, the quality of material that are being used needs to be scrutinized. After the report is submitted to us, the next course of action will be taken,” said a civic official.