24 killed as Lahore mosque rescue operation ends

Six people have been rescued in critical condition, while over 20 are still reported to be trapped under debris

LAHORE: At least 24 people died and over 9 people were reportedly injured as the roof of a mosque in Daroghawala, Lahore caved in on Tuesday.

At least 24 worshippers were killed when the roof of a mosque collapsed in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore Tuesday, officials said.

DCO Lahore, after the end of operation has claimed that no one is buried under the debris'

He added that heavy machinery will be used now to clean up the wreckage.

The accident happened in Daroghawala, a low-income neighbourhood in the outer city with narrow and congested streets that hampered rescue efforts.

Recent monsoon rains that have caused deadly flooding in Pakistan's Kashmir region and Punjab province may have contributed to the collapse, Punjab food minister Bilal Yasin told AFP.

"Rescuers have pulled the bodies of eleven people from the rubble and two of them are teenage boys," Rizwan Naseer, a senior rescue official told AFP.

The body of a 70-year-old man had also been brought out, Naseer said, while seven wounded had been rescued. A crane and excavators had started work, he added.

"We fear that there are still 10 to 15 more people under the concrete rubble," Naseer said.

Other officials said that there were up to 30 people at the daily afternoon prayers.

The roads nearby are busy, preventing heavy machines from entering the area to remove the debris. A crane and excavators have started work, Naseer said, but are also being hampered by the narrow streets.
Residents are helping the rescue effort, with television footage showing them making a line to remove debris by passing it hand-to-hand.

Zahid Bahsir, 35, who was being treated in hospital for injuries to his head and shoulders, said all he remembered was the recital of the prayer -- and then a loud noise, dust and debris.

"It was just another normal day when I stood with others to say my prayers, but suddenly everything turned into pain, dust and it was suffocating," Bashir told AFP.

"I am lucky to have survived this. Life and death is in the hands of Allah."

Bashir said the prayer leader had also survived. About 30 locals regularly worship at the mosque, he added.

Floods across India and Pakistan due to the monsoon rains have stranded hundreds of thousands of people and killed 400.
Many of the more than 200 killed in Pakistan so far have been victims of collapsed roofs.

Safety standards, particularly in construction, are very lax in nuclear-armed but impoverished Pakistan.

At least 21 people including including 16 women and four children died when a factory collapsed in Lahore in 2012.

The collapse of the Margalla Towers apartment block in Islamabad in a 2005 earthquake killed 78 people, with shoddy construction blamed.

Earlier, DG Rescue Dr Rizwan Naseer, while talking to The Express Tribune, said nine people had lost their lives and six were critically injured as a result of the incident. But as more bodies were pulled out from under the rubble, the toll rose to 24.

President aggrieved

President Mamnoon Hussain on Tuesday expressed grief over the loss of lives due to the caving in of the roof.

The President called upon the expedition of relief measures while being concerned about those still trapped under the rubble.