Excavation causes house collapse, kills two children

A developer had cut land next to the house and moved earth to carve out plots

ISLAMABAD: At least two children were killed and three of their family members injured in a house collapse incident in an Islamabad suburb on Friday night. The family was asleep when their house located on the edge of Ghauri Town Phase-4A collapsed before midnight on Friday, after day-long rain. As a result, two sisters, one 1.5 years old and the other 2.5 years, were killed while both their parents and another sibling suffered injuries. Another young boy was pulled out of the debris unharmed.

After the incident, locals removed the debris to recover the bodies and the injured.



Neighbours and relatives told The Express Tribune that the land was cut and earth removed beside the house, which was located at height, to carve more plots in the neighbourhood. “Bulldozers and excavators were moving earth close to the house. And then it rained all day, due to which the earth beneath the house slid,” a relative of the victim family said.



Abdur Rehman, the father of the two children, worked as a cook at a shrine and seminary located nearby. The family hailed from Kotli Sattian. The two children were buried at a graveyard near the family’s house
on Saturday.

Advocate Rana Abdul Qayyum who is president of the Ghauri Town Residents Welfare Association said the land next to the house was recently purchased by a developer who was now levelling it for plotting.  Earthmoving machinery was levelling land for the housing society, that coupled with heavy rain caused the earth to move and the house collapsed, said Advocate Rana.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 22^nd, 2018.