Unsafe structures: Three of a family die as tank collapses

A woman was giving a bath to her children under a water tank when its walls crumbled.

HYDERABAD: Three members of a family were killed and two suffered injuries when a water tank collapsed in Badin’s Chak-17 village on Thursday. The deceased were identified as 50-year-old woman Hajianim, five-year-old son Manzoor Talpur, and two-year-old son Amjad Talpur. The woman was giving bath to the children under the tank when its walls crumbled. Hyder Talpur, brother of the deceased woman, said that the construction work of the tank was completed only two months ago at a cost of Rs3.5 million. He alleged that substandard material was used in the construction. “The government’s engineers and contractor should be booked in the murder FIR,” he demanded. Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, who was in Badin on Thursday, ordered an investigation into the incident and the arrest of the contractor. The tank was built under Sindh Coastal Development Project which functions under the planning and development department.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2013.