A 63-year-old man was tragically killed on Sunday after a tree collapsed during heavy rain in Mumbai's Kurla area, marking the city's second fatal tree‑fall incident in less than a week. The incident took place around 12.40 pm near the Hindi BMC School in the Naupada locality of Kurla West, where the tree came down on the structure amid intense monsoon showers.
According to PTI, Civic officials identified the victim as Yunus Kundawala. He was pulled out from under the debris and rushed to Fauzia Hospital, but doctors declared him dead. Emergency teams from the fire brigade, Mumbai Police, BEST and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) reached the spot and carried out rescue and clearance operations as local residents watched in shock.
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Sunday's tragedy comes close on the heels of another deadly tree‑fall in the city. On June 30, an 11‑year‑old boy was killed and several other children were injured when a massive tree uprooted and fell onto a moving school bus in Chembur.
The bus, carrying students home amid heavy rain, was crushed under the weight of the tree, turning a routine journey into a fatal accident. That incident had already sparked public anger and questions over BMC's tree‑safety measures, with parents and citizens demanding stricter checks on ageing and diseased trees along busy roads and near schools.
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The Kurla death is likely to intensify those concerns. With the monsoon now in full swing, Mumbai's streets are lined with waterlogged footpaths, swaying branches and weakened trunks, raising fears that more trees could come down if inspections and preventive pruning are not carried out in time.
Civic authorities typically conduct pre‑monsoon surveys of “dangerous” trees and claim to remove or trim those at risk, but repeated accidents suggest gaps between policy and practice. For families living or working in older neighbourhoods, each fresh incident is a reminder that everyday hazards from loose wires to weak trees can turn deadly under heavy rain.
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