Minor girl killed, four other people injured in Metroville roof collapse

In what is probably this year’s fourth such incident, a minor girl was killed and four others were wounded when the roof of a house in Site Town collapsed in the wee hours of Wednesday.

Police officials said five people were buried under the debris after the roof of a dilapidated residence in the Metroville area collapsed.

They said the locals took the injured to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where 12-year-old Shazia succumbed to her wounds, while two of the injured, Anwar Shamsher and Sameer, were said to be out of danger. The house was built on a drain and its foundation was weak, added the police.

Before Wednesday’s roof collapse, three similar incidents emerged the previous month in the Clifton, Korangi and Mehmoodabad neighbourhoods of Karachi.

During the night of January 31, two of a family were killed when the roof of their house in Clifton’s Neelum Colony collapsed.

Rescue and hospital sources said the deceased were identified as 65-year-old Zeenat Bibi and 38-year-old Azim Sadiq.

Edhi Trust volunteers, who shifted the dead and the survivors to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), identified the injured as Shabana Saleem, Amir Ali and Daniyal.

On January 14, at least seven people were injured when the roof of a house collapsed in Korangi’s P&T Colony. The cause of the roof collapse was reportedly the downpour that the city had received.

Security officials and locals rushed to the scene of the incident and rescued the people trapped underneath the rubble of the collapsed roof. The injured were taken to the Jinnah Hospital.

On the second night of the current year, at least 20 people, including women and children, were injured when the roof of a house collapsed during a birthday celebration in Mehmoodabad’s Chanesar Goth.

Confirming the incident, an Edhi official said the injured were taken to the JPMC for treatment. Four women and six children were among the injured who were moved to the hospital, said a medico-legal officer, adding that the injured belonged to the Hindu community.

SHO Anwar Shaikh said the birthday party of the house owner’s child was under way when the roof suddenly collapsed, adding that the structure of the roof was weak.