India, July 19 -- "I saw God during the five hours I was trapped. I screamed out to people to pull me out, only to be told, again and again, to wait," recalls Hasina Shaikh, 53, rescued from beneath piles of rubble after her slum home in Bharat Nagar, in Bandra East, collapsed early on Friday.

Shaikh was among 15 residents whose lives hung in the balance for hours as they waited for rescue personnel to find them. Tragedy struck the sprawling slum colony, where a ground-plus-two storey structure was torn apart by an LPG explosion at 5.40am. The gas had likely leaked all night long and ignited when one of the residents lit a stove.

The fire brigade, civic officials, police and other rescue personnel rushed to Bharat Nagar after the explos...