KARACHI: Police on Friday launched an investigation into Thursday’s building collapse incident in Gulbahar (Golimar) area as its death toll has risen to 17 with the recovery of three more bodies from the debris.

According to officials and rescue services, it is feared that there may be some more people under the debris, alive or dead, as manual work for removing the debris continued till evening on Friday.

The Rizvia Society police said that the ground-plus-four-storey building had collapsed and fallen upon three other adjacent buildings, turning all the four structures into rubble.

The police have registered an FIR against the owner and builder of the building and officials of government departments concerned.

City police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon told Dawn that “we have lodged an FIR” and that no one had so far been arrested in the case. “We will wait till findings of the inquiry committee are released,” he added.

Rescuers fear more people may be trapped under the rubble

An area police officer said that the FIR had been registered on behalf of the state through an inspector, Aijaz Memon, against the owner and builder of the building, Mohammed Javed Khan, and officials of the departments concerned.

The case has been registered under sections 322 (punishment for qatl-bis-sabab), 119 (public servant concealing design to commit offence which it is his duty to prevent), 337-H (punishment for hurt by rash or negligent act), 427 (mischief causing damage) 109 (punishment of abetment) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

According to the FIR reviewed by Dawn, the complainant officer said that he received information at 1225 on Thursday that a building had collapsed in Gulbahar-2. The officer said when he along with a police party reached the area he saw four multistorey buildings had collapsed. People of the area had launched a rescue operation and they were taking out the bodies and the injured from the debris.

Funeral and reaction

The funeral prayer for four members of a family who lost their lives in the incident was held after Friday prayers at Noman Masjid at Lasbela Chowk. The four deceased were identified as Shehla Farhan and her three children, two teenage daughters Sara and Hira, and one-and-a-half-year-old son Abdul Rauf.

The funeral was attended by a large number of people, including Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar and some other politicians.

Former mayor of Karachi and leader of his own faction of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Dr Farooq Sattar believed that this tragedy was the outcome of the “activities of mafias”. He claimed low-quality material was being used for construction of multistorey buildings.

Mr Sattar said he would not blame only the SBCA, adding that in the past 30 years leaders of political parties were involved in illegal constructions.

He appreciated efforts of Pakistan Army and other services in the rescue operation.

Residents told the media that illegal constructions and use of substandard material were common in Waheedabad area of Gulbahar.

They said that up to four-storey buildings were being constructed on small plots in congested streets. They alleged that people involved in illegal constructions was protected by police and SBCA officials.

According to an Edhi Foundation spokesperson and hospital officials, bodies of a one-year-old baby, a man and an 80-year-old woman were taken out from the debris on Friday morning.

Police surgeon Dr Qarar Ahmed Abbasi has confirmed that the police have received bodies of 17 persons, including women and children. He said 17 other people were injured in the incident.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2020