Rescue officials confirmed on Friday that there have been no more reports of anyone being trapped under the rubble of a four-storey residential building that collapsed in Korangi's Allahwala Town a day earlier.
Relief operations are underway in the area using heavy machinery. Rescue workers said household items have been found in the debris but so far no more bodies have been discovered.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, locals said that water had accumulated around the building due to which the foundation of the building weakened leading to its collapse. They said the drainage system in the area has been destroyed due to the recent monsoon showers.
The residents complained that the neighborhood is facing severe problems of water accumulation in various places and demanded the government fix the drainage system in the area and stop illegal constructions.
A day earlier, rangers, local administration officials and rescue volunteers rescued people trapped under the rubble . Army personnel used thermal sensors and motion sensors to try to locate those buried in the rubble based on the direction from which their voices were coming, while rescuers carefully removed debris so as to avoid further injury to those trapped underneath.
The body of a child was retrieved from the rubble and shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, along with at least six injured residents. The deceased was identified as 15-year-old Waqas, while the injured included Ayub, his two teenaged daughters Nazish and Kiran, Rani Iqbal, her 14-year-old daughter Reema, and Nisha. Another injured teenager, Mehek, was also rushed to the Indus Hospital.
Karachi Commissioner Sohail Rajput, who was present at the site, told The Express Tribune that army engineers were engaged in the efforts, while more rescue teams were also arriving. He stated that it was difficult to accurately estimate how many people were in the building at the time, but added that the local administration was trying to save as many lives as possible
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It's saddening to know innocent lives were lost and many injured including children. I wonder if the Builder was nabbed for erecting buildings like this with sub-standard materials; no mention of the builder in the article, which is surprising. And it's ironic such buildings made out of sub-standard materials, often illegally get notice of the media and newspapers after a calamity like this occurs, why not before; God knows how many more such illegally erected buildings standing in the city waiting for disaster in making that's when building control, land revenue and all such authorities wake up to take notice, and after a day or two every thing goes back to normal; and the cycle repeats itself indefinitely. Truth is for common people who don't belong to any party and mind their livelihood for their households, it's same old Pakistan, no change.