KARACHI: A 60-year-old man, his three children and a nephew were buried beneath a landslide in Baldia Town in the early hours of Thursday while his three daughters were pulled out in injured condition from under the rubble by rescuers.

The bodies of Zamir Gul, his 12-year-old son Abdullah, his two daughters namely Iqra, 18, and Kainat, 19, and his nine-year-old nephew Atif Nisar were recovered after hectic efforts. His three other daughters, identified as Yusra, 8, Muskan, 10, and Roma, 14, were injured in the incident.

The two residents who remained unhurt were the widow of Zamir Gul, Nagina Bibi, who was offering Tahajjud prayer at the time of the incident, and her sister, according to the Ittehad Town police.

Blaming ‘encroachment’ upon the hill for the tragedy, officials got many houses in the Gulshan-i-Ghazi area evacuated followed by an anti-encroachment operation launched on the order of the deputy commissioner of Karachi District West with the help of heavy machinery.

Three young girls and their mother rescued; authorities blame encroachment for the tragedy

The area police said all the family members, except Nagina Bibi, were sleeping when a heavy rock fell on the house destroying most of its structure.

The incident occurred at around quarter to four in the morning. The huge bang caused panic in the area. But people later rushed to the spot on receiving information about the incident as appeals for help were made from area mosques.

In the meantime, rescue services, police and the Rangers arrived in the area though they faced difficulties in getting access to the affected structure in the densely populated hilly area. However, after hectic efforts lasting more than an hour, five bodies were retrieved from under the rubble. The three injured girls were pulled out alive from the debris and shifted to Civil Hospital Karachi.

“Five persons were brought dead at the hospital at around 5:45am,” said Additional Police Surgeon at the CHK Dr Karar Ahmed Abbasi. Three injured girls were also brought for treatment, he added.

The youngest of the deceased was only nine, said Ittehad Town SHO Shakeel Sherwani. He added the victim, Atif, who was the son of Zamir’s cousin and his wife’s sister, had come to stay at his uncle’s home on the fateful night. His own house was also situated in the same vicinity, the police official added.

Baldia SP Asif Razzaq Abbasi told Dawn that Zamir Gul was a labourer, hailing from Swat, who had shifted to this area some years ago. He said most houses in the area were built on land retrieved after cutting the hills. Due to this practice, the structure of the hills had weakened, which was the cause of landslides, he said.

“A few such incidents had occurred in the past,” said another police officer, Shakeel Sherwani. Gulshan-i-Ghazi area was established around 30 years ago, he added.

Ittehad Town SHO apprehended there were ‘three to four pieces of heavy rocks’ separated from the hills which could fall on the settlement at any moment.

Following the deaths, officials asked the people residing in the neighbourhood to vacate their homes to avoid any tragedy. Later, the deputy commissioner of District West with the help of heavy machinery and backed by the local police launched an operation in the area to remove ‘encroachments,’ said the police officer.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2017