Thane is a city in Maharashtra, India, and the administrative headquarters of Thane district. The first train ever to run in India rolled out from "Boree Bunder" to Thane, 34 kilometers away. This marked the dawn of the Railway Age in Asia. Thane covers an area of 147 km2 and has a population of more than 1.8 million within its municipal limits, according to the 2011 census.

On 4 April 2013, a building collapsed in Mumbra, a suburb of Thane in Maharashtra, India. There were more than 100 survivors. 72 people died, including 26 children, and 36–62 people were injured. The search for additional survivors ended on 6 April 2013, but the death toll may increase. Workers found it difficult to locate people on three of the floors because the floors were "sandwiched" in the collapse.

The building was under construction and did not have an occupancy certificate for its 100 to 150 low- to middle-income residents. It was reported that the building was illegally constructed and that the builder wanted it to be occupied to prevent it from being torn down.