- Rescuers carry out operation, shift bodies and injured to civil hospital
KARACHI: Two women were killed and three others sustained injuries on Thursday after the roof of a six-storey building caved in near Lyari’s Khadda Market, the second this month, rescue officials confirmed.
According to rescuers, the sixth floor of Ghani Mansion building, near Bilal Masjid and Peshawari Hotel, caved in and fell onto the fifth floor, which triggered the collapse of the roof onto the next.
Soon after the incident, Rescue 1122 teams, along with other emergency services, reached the site and launched a rescue operation. Police also cordoned off the area and helped coordinate rescue operations, which are yet underway.
Earlier this month, a similar tragedy unfolded in Lyari’s Baghdadi area, where a five-storey residential building collapsed, claiming 27 lives and leaving 10 others injured.
It had taken 50 hours of the rescuers to complete the operation.
DIG South Syed Asad Raza confirmed that two women died in the incident, and three others reported to be their daughters were injured, adding the bodies were shifted to Civil Hospital Karachi.
One of the victims was identified as 45-year-old Hurmat Rafiq, according to a spokesperson for the Edhi Foundation, while the identity of the other woman could not be ascertained yet.
All five victims were residents of the building. Officials stated that the injured were receiving medical treatment, and their conditions were being monitored.
Following the tragedy, the authorities are investigating the cause of the collapse and assessing structural damage to the surrounding area.
The Sindh government subsequently ordered a fresh province-wide survey of all dangerous buildings, citing complaints that some had been wrongly declared unsafe.
District committees have already been established and will include technical experts from ABAD, PEC, and the Council of Architects and Town Planners.
A meeting chaired by Ghani reviewed 588 dilapidated buildings in Karachi, 59 of which were deemed extremely dangerous. Karachi authorities said 29 of those have been vacated. The list was later updated with over 70 more unsafe building structures.
