Weak structures: 13 die in roof collapse incidents

A clutch of roof collapse incidents across the country claims lives.

PESHAWAR/KOHISTAN/QUETTA:

A clutch of roof collapse incidents across the country claimed 13 lives on Wednesday.

Seven people were killed when the roof of a house came crashing down in Peshawar due to a gas leak explosion. Likewise, five people died in Kohistan when the roof of a clay-built house collapsed. A 10-year-old child lost his life in Quetta when the roof of a rickety hotel caved in.

Seven people, including a woman and three children, were killed in the roof-collapse incident in the Namak Mandi area of Peshawar on Wednesday.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Imtiaz told The Express Tribune that the explosion, which took place at around 4:45 am, was the result of a gas leakage.

“Nazar Muhammad, his wife and three daughters were killed, while one daughter was injured,” he said. The DSP said that the wife of Nazar Muhammad’s brother was also killed as a result of the explosion.

Imtiaz added that despite awareness campaigns, people do not turn off gas heaters and incidents like this have become a routine.

Rescue teams rushed to the area and according to a statement issued by Rescue 1122, the disaster emergency response team,rescued Rehman, 29, and Samin, 25, alive and  recovered bodies of Nazar Muhammad, his wife Maryam, 23; Asma, 13; Attia, 12; Aiman, nine; and Waqar, eight, from the debris.

Five labourers, including two brothers, were killed and two others injured seriously when a similar roof collapse incident happened in the remote village of Teshil Pattan in Kohistan on Tuesday evening, police and villagers said.  The injured were shifted to the Bisham hospital where their condition was stated to be critical.

Kohistan District Police Officer Muhammad Ilyas Khan told The Express Tribune that seven mine workers of a local chromite mine were asleep in a clay-built house situated on the foothill of village Darra Jeejal when a heavy mass of earth fell on it.

A 10-year-old boy was killed and two others sustained injuries when the roof of an improvised roadside hotel collapsed on Saryab Road in Quetta on Wednesday.

According to owner of the hotel, there were three people, including a child, having a tea inside the hotel near the New Saryab police station when the roof caved in. As a result, the three were trapped in the rubble.

People at the scene pulled out the body of 10-year-old Faheem and the two injured were also rescued. They were shifted to the Sandeman Hospital where the condition of the injured was stated to be out of danger.

“The hotel was built with mud and it was in very poor condition,” a police official of New Saryab told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2012.