24 dead as roof of Lahore mosque collapses

Around 35 worshippers were inside the mosque at the time of cave-in.

LAHORE:

At least 24 worshipers were killed and seven others critically injured as the roof of a mosque in Lahore caved in during prayers on Tuesday, a top official at a rescue service told The Express Tribune.

According to eyewitnesses, the incident took place around 1:45pm when at least 35 people – including elderly and children – had lined up for Zuhr prayers in the main hall of the two-storey Jamia Hanfia mosque in Nishtar Town in the Daroghawala area of the city.

Muhammad Idrees, a resident of a neighbouring house, who was inside the mosque when the incident took place told The Express Tribune that half of the structure came down on the worshippers as soon as the prayer leader said ‘Allah-o-Akbar’.

“I was late for the prayers and was walking towards the hall after ablution when the roof came down with a thud and as soon as I regained senses, all I heard were screams and shouts for help, from beneath the debris,” Idrees recounted.

Rescuers reached the spot at least 20 minutes after the incident but had to face extreme difficulties in starting the rescue operation as their heavy machinery could not enter the narrow streets of Nishtar Town.



Later, they secured one crane from the anti-encroachment unit and hired two other machines to start their operation. However, in the meanwhile, the locals had started removing the rubble on their own and rescued at least four people before the arrival of Rescue 1122.

Rescue 1122 spokesman Jam Sajjad said the injured, as well as the bodies recovered, from under the rubble were shifted to Services Hospital by the rescuers.  “The majority of people who had fallen victim to the incident were either old people, above 60 years of age or children up to 15 years of age,” he added.

Sajjad feared that at least 10 people were buried under the rubble and chances of their survival were bleak. “The rescuers are facing difficulty in cutting the iron rods of the collapsed roof,” he said.

Prayer leader, Ghulam Nabi remained safe in the roof collapse as he was standing inside the arched niche near the mimber in the hall and was later evacuated by the rescuers and given first aid. Locals of the area said the ground floor and the prayer hall of the mosque were built at least 40 to 50 years ago and the first story was built 10 years ago.

Eyewitnesses said roof of the first floor collapsed first and took down the roof of the ground floor with it as well. An overwhelming majority of area residents insisted that the collapse was due to water from torrential rains that had inundated the area for at least two days, a week ago.

They also said a new minaret was built a month ago and the remaining material – including extra sand, asphalt and other building materials – were kept at the roof which had put extra burden on the structure and might have caused the collapse.

The Jamia Hanfia Mosque, built over 30 marlas of land, also had a seminary for children above the prayer hall on the first floor, where children from neighbouring houses learn recitation of the Holy Quran but fortunately their classes start after Asr prayers.

DCO Tariq Zaman said the first floor of the mosque caved in due to seepage whereas the ground floor could not bear the weight and collapsed. Family members of the victims were seen waiting for their loved ones trapped inside the debris. Hundreds of onlookers also gathered at the spot and were later forced out of the streets by the police as their presence was blocking relief work.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif also arrived at the site to oversee the rescue operation and ordered an inquiry into the matter. He also announced Rs500,000 for the family of each person who died in the incident.


Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2014.