Pounding monsoon rains in India's financial capital Mumbai and its suburbs killed at least 11 people and left several others missing in rain-related accidents on Wednesday, Indo-Asian News Agency reported from Mumbai.

In Marol in Andheri metro suburb, nine school children were reported to have been killed in a wall collapse, IANS reported.

Meanwhile, incessant rains crippled life in Mumbai on Wednesday with an unprecedented deluge bringing trains, buses and flights to a halt, leaving millions of stranded people at the mercy of frantic relief efforts.

Waist-deep water flooded roads, buildings and civic facilities in this city of 15 million as people desperately tried to reach their homes after a harrowing night in offices and stations.

Rescue teams of the Indian Navy were called in to provide food and other material to stranded people.

"There have been floods but this kind of crisis is unprecedented in Mumbai's history," admitted Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

"Until the rain stops, the relief efforts are unlikely to gather momentum. It is such a severe crisis that it is not possible to provide relief and rescue to everybody. But we are trying to drop food packets (to marooned people) as much as possible,"Vilasrao Deshmukh said.

With no let-up in the rains that continued for 24 hours till midday, the railway stations and airport flooded, the telephone lines not working, power shutdown in a number of areas and endless traffic jams, the Maharashtra government declared Wednesday a holiday.

Thousands of people, including schoolchildren, remained stuck inside stationary buses, taxis, trains and private vehicles or offices, where they had stayed put since the flooding brought the city to a halt.

The Meteorological Department has forecast heavy rainfall with gusty winds for Mumbai and suburbs.

As the city's lifeline, the train services, were completely paralyzed due to waterlogged tracks, thousands of people camped in the stations where food stalls were kept open through the night.

Voluntary organizations were at work in some areas distributing tea and khichdi, (made of rice and lentil), but it was not enough.

More than 80 people are reported stuck in a double-decker bus in Kurla suburb. Many children were stuck in their homes without parents, as the latter had been unable to return from office.

Source: Xinhua