KARACHI: Fourteen people, including women and children, died and 17 others suffered injuries when an under-construction building in the Gulbahar area of Nazimabad fell upon two adjacent buildings, bringing all the three multi-storey structures to the ground on Thursday, officials and witnesses said.

The dead included a woman and her three children and another woman and her daughter and two minor brothers.

Rizvia Society police said the multi-storey buildings were located in Phool Wali Gali in Gulbahar-1. Rescue workers retrieved the bodies and the injured from the debris of the collapsed buildings by cutting iron rods.

The officials said they faced immense difficulty in getting access to the area as it was a highly congested locality where even the street was impassable. Ambulances were parked at some distance in another street. The wounded persons were taken to different hospitals of the city.

Police surgeon Dr Qarar Ahmed Abbasi said 14 bodies, including those of women and children, were brought to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. They suffered head injuries. He feared that the death toll might increase as some of the injured were in critical condition.

Question mark over how a six-storey edifice was allowed to be built on an 80-square-yard plot

In order to avoid more damage to the life and property, nearby buildings were vacated by the officials.

The area people told the media that the five-storey Fatima building was constructed around three years ago and a sixth floor was being constructed when the building fell down. Four families were living in the building.

Rescue officials said it appeared that concrete structure and pillars of the building were weak.

Inquiry ordered

Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani said an inquiry had been launched to ascertain the exact cause of the incident. He said it would be investigated whether or not the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) had approved the building’s design and criminal charges would be filed against those involved in it.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah took notice of the incident and sought a detailed report. He also directed the Karachi commissioner to immediately launch a rescue operation to save people’s lives and to investigate whether the building was constructed legally.

Later, the commissioner visited the spot and supervised the rescue operation.

SBCA sources said the building was constructed on a 66-yard plot and interestingly it was officially allowed to build five floors on such a narrow and small space. “But it doesn’t end here. The builder went for construction of a sixth floor on it which was visible to everyone, but no one came to check and challenged his action,” a source said.

City police chief Additional IG Ghulam Nabi Memon told Dawn that police are going to lodge an FIR under Sections 322, 322, 337 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code against the owner of the building and all those who are responsible for the tragedy. He said that since it was a technical issue and many departments were involved, there was need to get a technical assessment.

Police are writing to the district administration to constitute a technical committee to fix responsibility. Those found guilty will be booked through supplementary challan (charge sheet) of the case.

The dead were identified as Shahla, 32, wife of Abdul Rasheed, and their three children Sara, 15, Hajra, 16, and Abdul Rauf, 2; Ms Hina Abdul Malik and her daughter, Tahira, 15, and two brothers nine-month-old Haider Khurram and Yahya Khurram, 3; Marrium Abdul Haq, 30, Ms Zubaida Mohammad Ali, 40, and her daughter Mahek, 16; Ghulam Mustafa, Ms Afsheen Farrukh, 35, and Ms Khurram.

Ten of the injured were identified as Khurram, 40, Daniyal Tariq, 18, Hameeda Khatoon, 70, Hammad Farooq, 8, Arifa Tariq, 38, Awais Khursheed, 28, Hamza Farrukh, 6, Aleena, 8, Zakariya Khurram, 5, and Arsalan Fayyaz, 17.

In another incident, a man died and seven others, including two children, suffered injuries when an under-construction shed of a school fell on a restaurant in Block-16 of F.B. Area.

Yusuf Plaza SHO Anila Qadir said the two-room school was on the first floor of Abdullah Centre and the restaurant on the ground floor. The school was closed and its shed was being constructed when it fell on people in the restaurant, killing one of them on the spot.

The officer said it was a negligence of both the contractor and the school administration. She said the restaurant owner’s son told police that he would get an FIR registered against the contractor and the school administration for negligence.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2020