Six killed, 14 injured as 3-storey building collapses in Karachi
karachi — A dilapidated, threestorey building in a poorer neighbourhood of Karachi collapsed before dawn on Tuesday, killing at least six people and injuring 14, a rescue and senior police official said.
Several hours into the day, rescuers were still working and pulling more bodies from under the rubble, according to Rizwan Edhi, a top official for Pakistan’s largest private ambulance service, Edhi.
“Rescuers are using heavy machinery with utmost care as we can still hear voices of people trapped in the rubble,” he said.
Earlier, senior police official Aran Kobra said the dead included a man and his son, who were sleeping when the building collapsed. He said up to two people were still believed to be trapped under the rubble.
TV footage showed a teenage boy crying for help as residents struggled with their hands to remove a concrete pillar that had fallen on his leg. Later, the boy was rescued with the help of construction machinery.
According to area residents, the 60-80 yard building was in a derelict state and its third storey had been illegally built a few months ago.
Area residents said four families had been residing in the building, which had tea and paan shops on its ground floor.
A large number of rescue workers, police officials and Rangers personnel took part in the rescue operation.
Shortly after the 3am collapse, when only two were reported killed, Karachi’s Deputy Commissioner Fariduddin Mustafa warned the death toll could climb further as rescue workers painstakingly sifted through the rubble. Farid said the cause of the collapse wasn’t immediately known though reports indicated the building was old and poorly constructed, which could have contributed to the collapse. He said it could take up to 24 hours to remove the debris after an incident of this nature. Mentioning that there is every possibility of more survivors stuck in the rubble, Farid said extreme caution has been adopted in the ongoing rescue operation involving numerous KMC workers and volunteers.
“We are extremely cautious with regard to use of heavy machinery,” said the DC in reply to a question reiterating that focus is safe retrieval of survivors.
Safety codes are often ignored in Pakistan and in some of the poorer areas construction is haphazard and bribes are paid to inspectors to approve substandard construction. —