Thane, Jul 17 (PTI) At least nine families were evacuated from a 20-year-old building, after it developed cracks and tilted in Khopat area of Maharashtra's Thane city, a civic official said on Friday.

The civic authorities have also emptied two chawls adjoining Sai Anand Apartments, which developed cracks and tilted late on Thursday night, said Santosh Kadam, chief of the Regional Disaster Management Cell of the Thane Municipal Corporation.

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Local firemen and police personnel rushed to the scene for the evacuation, the official said.

At least nine flats in the building have been sealed and the residents were shifted to a civic school nearby, he said.

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As a precautionary measure, residents of Salunke Chawl and Bhoir Chawl have also been evacuated and shifted to the nearby civic school, the officer said. PTI COR ARU ARU 07171036 NNNN the full length of the field.

“He was as fast with his legs as with his mouth, but he had a heart of gold," said Ruud Krol, his defensive teammate.

Born at the end of World War II, Suurbier's timing as a professional perfectly crossed the paths of Cruyff and coach Rinus Michels.

The combination of the greatest Dutch player and the greatest Dutch coach produced the freedom-loving “Total Football,” a revolutionary change in tactics with players interchanging roles, pressuring the opposition all over the field and constantly moving with mesmerizing fluidity.

Suurbier felt right at home in the white-and-red strip of Ajax and the orange shirt of the national team, closing down opposing forwards before driving forward along the sideline with speed few could match.

For a few years, no team or coach had a clue how to counter “Total Football,” allowing Ajax to win three straight European Cups from 1971-73. Suurbier was there all along.

Then came 1974, Dutch soccer's most exhilarating and traumatic year. With long hair and untucked shirts, they cruised through the early stages of the World Cup in West Germany, entertaining the the world with dazzling performances.

Moments ahead of the final, Suurbier and his teammates were still joking and making light of the momentous occasion. They led West Germany 1-0 after a minute, but then it all fell apart as the methodological Germans came back to win 2-1.

Suurbier stuck with the national team for four more years, and he came even closer to winning the World Cup in 1978. The Dutch hit the post in the final minutes of regulation time, when a goal would have given them the title. In the end, they lost to host Argentina 3-1, and Suurbier's international career was over.

He later joined Cruyff at the Los Angeles Aztecs in 1979, but his career was sliding. He stayed in the United States for more than three decades, working various coaching jobs and even as a bartender.

As reliable as he was on the field, Suurbier was known for being a happy-go-lucky character off it. He is remembered as much for his pranks about disappearing socks, and worse, as about the trophies he won. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)