Five-storey building collapses in Musa Colony

Structure was vacated earlier to prevent loss of life

KARACHI:

A five-storey residential building collapsed in Musa Colony, within the jurisdiction of Gulberg police station, on Monday, but luckily there were no casualties.

On receiving the information, a police contingent rushed to the location and cordoned off the premises to deny entry to unauthorized people.

Traffic has also been diverted on the two roads in the area, from Karimabad to Ayesha Manzil, and from Ziauddin to Landi Kotal Chowrangi, according to the traffic police.

Imtiaz Tanoli, SHO Gulbarg police station, said that they had already evacuated residents from the building at 7am on Monday as it had developed big cracks due to the recent heavy rains.

He further said that there were six apartments in the building in which families lived. A double storey building adjacent to the collapsed structure had also been evacuated because it has also developed huge cracks.

A team of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) reached the location on Monday to demolish the double storey building which could also collapse anytime. The SBCA would determine if its rules and regulations had been followed during the construction of the building.

SHO Tanoli said a PMT of K-Electric situated in front of the five-storey building was also damaged, which resulted in the suspension of electricity supply to the entire area.

He further said that the police team would present at the location until the double storey building was demolished. Heavy machinery would be called to remove the debris from the location.

Meanwhile, Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) said a warning notice was issued to evacuate the crumbling building a week ago.

The building on Plot E-104 in Musa Colony area of Central district was totally illegal and substandard. And the building leaned to one side, in view of the situation, Central district commissioner, on the advise of SBCA, evacuated it and also the neighbouring buildings with the help of police and Rangers last night, due to which there was no loss of life in the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2022.