Thane: At least six people were killed and 10 others injured after a four-storey building housing 20 families collapsed at Thakurli in the western Indian state of Maharashtra’s Thane district.

The building ‘Matruchaya’, built 35 years ago, collapsed last night at Cholve village, following which rescue operations were launched by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), fire brigade officials and civic authorities said on Wednesday.

However, the operations have been hampered due to continuous rains, District Disaster Management Control Room in-charge Jaideep Visave said.

At the time of collapse, 20 families were inside the building.

Santosh Kadam of Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC) said that some more occupants could be still trapped beneath the debris.

The deceased have been identified as P.V. Easwaran, 67, Usha Kushan, 49, Pratik Hajiriya, 7, Usha Sundaram and Francis Nadar, 44. One of the deceased is yet to be identified.

The injured have been admitted to a local hospital in Dombivili, Visave added.

District Guardian Minister Ekanth Shinde, Kalyan MP Srikanth Shinde, Collector Ashwini Joshi and other top officials are monitoring the rescue and relief work.