One dead, two hurt in Lyari house roof collapse

A man died and two others suffered injuries when the roof of a house located in Lyari’s Baghdadi area collapsed on Wednesday evening.

Officials said the collapse of a house’s roof in Shah Baig Lane was reported at around 8pm in the evening and identified the victims as Liaquat Ali, Altaf Hussain and Ishtiaq. Of the three men, Liaquat, 60, passed away during treatment at the Civil Hospital and doctors termed grievous head injuries as the cause of death. 

As for the two injured men, hospital sources both Altaf, 40, and Ishtiaq, 30, were being treated for injuries to different parts of their bodies. 

This was at least the third roof collapse incident reported in the city this year. On September 20, two children were killed while three others were injured when a portion of the roof of a seminary located in Saudabad caved in. 

Twelve-year-old Muhammad Arman, son of Muhammad Ibrahim, and thirteen-year-old Muhammad Abbas, died while eight years old Muzzamil, 12-year-old Faisal, son of Javed, and 25-year-old Qari Ismail sustained injuries, according to the Khokrapar police. 

As per investigators, a water tank constructed on the roof of the Madina Masjid came crashing down while the children were reciting Quran in the veranda.

On July 14, a woman died and four more people were hurt after when a house built over the Gujjar Nullah collapsed while the drain was being cleared. 

Also in July, two people including a minor boy died in a partial building collapse near Shaheen Complex off II Chundrigar Road, while five others suffered injuries. Several people were trapped under rubble when a floor of the building - said to be a pre-partition structure - collapsed and a rescue operation continued for over 24 hours. Rescuers had said the collapse occurred when the roof of the first floor of the two-storey building caved in. 

Police identified one of the victims as Najma, 35, and the injured as Murtaza, 45, Imama Zafar, 60, Ahmed, 30, and Waheed, 35.

Six more deaths were reported in July as the roof of an ice factory collapsed in the city's New Karachi area.  Investigators had said the roof collapse was triggered by a boiler explosion. 

Prior to that, on June 11, six people were killed and 15 others injured when a sun shade structure made with metal awnings collapsed at a mosque during Friday prayers near Landi Kotal roundabout in Block-N of North Nazimabad.

The Haidery police said a temporary sun shade set up at the courtyard of Masjid-e-Usman Ghani fell on the worshippers killing Muhammad Saleem, 45, Haji Akhter, 50, Humayun Rabbani, 30, Rafiullah, 28, Faisal Yaqoob, 40, and his son Abdul Rafa, 18. 15 others were injured and rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

Murder attempt survivor shot dead

An electrician was shot dead in a targeted attack in the city’s Sakhi Hasan area on Wednesday afternoon. Police said this was the second attempt on the victim’s life as he had survived a gun attack two years ago.

Taimuria police officials identified the victim as 35-year-old Mohammad Abdullah, a resident of Orangi Town, and said he was shot at by two assailants at his shop located behind the Serena Mobile Market in Buffer Zone, North Nazimabad.

SHO Irfan Asif said Abdullah suffered a single bullet wound to his head which likely meant that the assailants entered his shop and shot him at close range. The weapon used was a 9mm pistol, said the officer.

Abdullah’s body was taken for a postmortem at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH). Since this was the second attack on Abdullah’s life, investigators said it was most likely a target killing. A case had been registered and
police said they would look into all possible
aspects.