Death toll from India building collapse jumps to 20

Emergency workers have pulled 20 survivors, including two boys aged 4 and 7, from the rubble

National Disaster Response Force personnel work after a residential building's collapse in Bhiwandi on the outskirts of Mumbai. EPA

The death toll from an apartment block collapse in western India climbed to 20 on Tuesday, with officials expecting to recover more bodies.

Emergency workers from the National Disaster Response Force pulled 20 survivors, including two boys aged 4 and 7, from the rubble of the building in Bhiwandi, near Mumbai.

A spokesman for the force said recovery teams, aided by sniffer dogs, retrieved 20 bodies buried under layers of brick and concrete when the three-storey building came crashing down before dawn on Monday.

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The force's director general Satya Narayan Pradhan tweeted that he expected the toll to increase.

The cause of the accident was not immediately clear, but building collapses are common during India's monsoon season between June and September, with old and rickety structures buckling after days of non-stop rain.