Seven more bodies retrieved from fallen building, death toll soars to 27

Rescue operation was expected to be completed by midnight

KARACHI: The death toll from the collapse of a residential building in Rizvia Society soared to 27 as rescue workers retrieved seven more bodies from the rubble on Sunday. Area residents believe that there are more people still buried in the wreckage, on the fourth day of rescue operations after the five-storey building caved in. However, rescue teams expected that their efforts would be completed by Sunday night, allowing them to declare the area clear.

The bodies were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

Officials stated that rescue operations by the police, Rangers, army, fire department, Sindh Building Control Authority (SCBA) and relief services had been ongoing since the incident occurred on Thursday, with the assistance of area residents.

Narrow alleyways restricted the access of heavy machinery to the disaster site, which meant that much of the rubble was being cleared manually, slowing down rescue efforts.

The collapsed building also left the adjoining building bent, leading to fears that it too may collapse, while several parts of a third building have also collapsed. Additionally, a fourth building has been declared 'dangerous' by the authorities. As a result, residents had been evacuated from the area.

One of those found on Sunday, Sufyan, had been present on the third floor of the building when it fell. He was identified by his brother with the help of his mobile phone and wallet after the rescue workers retrieved his body from the rubble. Meanwhile, Dr Ghazala's body was recovered from the debris of her clinic, which was located on the ground floor of the collapsed building.

The deceased also included seven members of the family of retired police sub-inspector Muhammad Ali Veesar. While two of his sons, Zahid and Rashid, survived the incident, leaving home for work in the morning a few hours before the incident, Veesar, his wife Zubaida, three daughters - Kainat, 15, Iqra, 16, and Sumera, 25 - and two other sons, 25-year-old Tariq and 30-year-old Sohail, were in their apartment on the first floor of the building when it collapsed.

Their bodies were taken to their hometown, Shikarpur.

Ishrat Bibi, 40, who was found under the debris of the building on the street, had left her house to shop for groceries on Thursday and never returned, according to her husband. Unable to find her in the hospitals where the injured had been taken, he had feared that she was trapped in the rubble.

The wreckage of a car was also unearthed during rescue operations.

Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani along with other officials visited the site on Sunday to review the ongoing rescue operations.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2020.