Five killed in roof collapse on wedding day

LAHORE

A marriage ceremony day turned into a tragedy day for the family of a book binder when the roof of his house collapsed, killing five women and injuring seven other people on Sunday morning.

Police said the book binder, Muhammad Jameel, had been living in a rented house on the back of Masjid Wazir Khan for the last three years. The marriage ceremony of his daughter was planned for Sunday. His relatives from Rawalpindi and other cities were also at house.

On Saturday night, the family arranged Mehndi function at a nearby marriage hall. At night, they returned home. Afnan, a relative of the victim family, told that some of the members went to sleep while others started celebrations and dancing to music.

Suddenly, the roof of the house caved in. First, the roof of the upper floor fell down. The roof of the ground floor could not bear the burden and it too caved in. He said that the roof collapsed with a big bang. Dust, darkness and screams spread all around and no one could comprehend what was going on.

Neighbours started rescue work, removed the debris and evacuated the victims. Rescue 1122 also reached there and shifted the victims to Mayo and Nawaz Sharif Hospitals.

The deceased were identified as Tafseela, 40, her daughter Aqsa, 9, sister Dua, 35, cousin Mehwish, 28 and mother Parveen. The injured were identified as three-month-old Haram, one-and-a-half-year-old Ayyan, three-year-old Mah Noor, four-year-old Rehman, Nabeela, 30 and Jameel, 45.

Funeral prayers for the victims were held at Masjid Wazir Khan in the evening. A large number of people offered funeral prayers.

The bodies of two victims were sent to Rawalpindi for burial.

A rescue official said that they faced a lot of trouble in rescue operation as they could not move their vehicles and machinery  through narrow streets. He said that they had to stop their vehicles near Masjid Wazir Khan and then walked to the incident place to carry on rescue operation.

Body: The body of a 40-year-old unidentified man with marks of torture was found in Rohi drain in the Nishter Colony area on Sunday.

A passerby spotted the body and informed police. Police fished it out and removed it to morgue.

Police collected forensic evidences and registered statements of eyewitnesses. Police said that circumstantial evidences suggested that some persons might have tortured and killed the victim and dumped his body in the drain. 

However, autopsy and further investigation will help ascertain the cause of his death and the motive, police said.

RECOVERED: Lahore Police claimed to have recovered 84 such children who had gone missing but were reported kidnapped in different police stations.

Police said the children were recovered in search operations in July and August.

A police spokesperson said that they also recovered 109 children who had run away from their homes in different cities and come to Lahore. Police handed them over to Child Protection and Welfare Bureau and Edhi Foundation.

Police also recovered 75 children during search operations in bazaars, shrines, bus stands, parks, makeshift residences/huts of gypsies. They handed 55 of them to their parents and 20 children to Child Protection and Welfare Bureau as they could not tell about their parents.

Children Task Force under the supervision of CIA SP recovered 34 children from Data Darbar, Bhatti Gate. Railway Station, Lorry Adda, Niazi Adda and different parks during the last week and handed them to Edhi Centre, Gulberg.

DIG Investigations Sultan Chaudhry said that Lahore Police were using all available resources for recovery of kidnapped children. He vowed to continue their efforts until the recovery of every missing child. 

DIES: A 35-year-old man died in a road accident in the Factory Area on Sunday.

Police said victim Hassan was going his home on a bike on Walton Road when a speeding vehicle hit and injured him. He was removed to hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.

The body has been removed to morgue. Police are searching for the accused driver.

PHP: Punjab Highway Patrol claimed to have arrested 36 criminals, including eight proclaimed offenders (POs).

Besides the arrests, Punjab Highway Patrol (PHP) also extended help to 2,203 travelers.  

PHP teams arrested eight POs identified as Ibrar, Abdul Rasheed, M Akhtar, M Younis, M Azam, Arif, Asif and M Farooq. They were handed over to police. 

PHP teams seized 191-litre liquor, three pistols and 64 bullets, one rifle after arresting 23 accused identified as Manzoor Hussain, M Shahid, M Aslam, Naheed Noor, Naseer, Fazal Abbas, Khurram, Saleem, Abubakar, Salamat, M Faisal, M Shahbaz, Gull Shair, Shahzad, Sadiq Masih, Zulfiqar, M Irfan and M Ismail.

A PHP team seized 200-kilogram spoiled meat from accused Nazeer Ahmad. PHP reunited four children; Hoor Hussain, M Aslam, M Sulaman and M Hussain; with their parents.