This story is from July 3, 2019

Malad wall collapse: Sole earner of Ratnagiri family dies, was to get engaged soon

A Ratnagiri woman's dreams for herself and her four young sisters were cut short by the wall collapse on Tuesday. Sonali Gothankar (22) was the only earning member of the Gothankar family and she was killed in the accident along with her sister-in-law Siddhi (30).
Malad wall collapse: Sole earner of Ratnagiri family dies, was to get engaged soon
Malad wall collapse
MUMBAI: A Ratnagiri woman's dreams for herself and her four young sisters were cut short by the wall collapse on Tuesday. Sonali Gothankar (22) was the only earning member of the Gothankar family and she was killed in the accident along with her sister-in-law Siddhi (30).
"Sonali was employed at a coffee shop in a Goregaon mall. Her father is dead and she came to Mumbai six years ago to financially support her mother and sisters back home," said neighbour Kiran Khande.
"Who will take responsibility for their lives and future now," she said, adding that Sonali was a native of Kankavli. Sonali was to get engaged this Diwali, Khande said.
Siddhi lived with her cousins-Ganesh and Nitesh, their wives-Siddhi and Priyanka, the cousins' mother-Sanjeevani, and the cousins' children in Malad. All were home when the wall crashed. "We heard a loud sound and before we could understand what was happening, water rushed into our house. The walls broke and things starting falling on our heads," said Nitesh, adding that they managed to remove the debris and rescue everyone but Sonali and Siddhi. "There were wires everywhere. We think they were electrocuted," he said. Their autopsies, done at RN Cooper Hospital in Juhu, however, didn't find signs of electrocution.
Sanjeevani, who suffered a fracture, said, "It was suffocating. It was a nightmare.". Ganesh and Nitesh too suffered injuries but they didn't want to get admitted.

At least 18 killed after wall collapses in Mumbai’s Malad


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About the Author
Sumitra Debroy

Sumitra Deb Roy is a health journalist with more than 17 years of experience across India’s leading newspapers. She is currently a senior assistant editor with the Times of India, where she has extensively covered the Covid-19 pandemic and highlighted the unprecedented challenges faced by the health systems in Mumbai and Maharashtra. She recently co-authored a book titled “Mumbai Fights Back” that chronicles the city’s battle with Covid-19. She holds a postgraduate degree in journalism from the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai and a bachelor’s in political science from Calcutta University.

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