Three dead, 12 hurt as building collapses in Sukkur

SUKKUR: Three bodies including that of a mother and her child were pulled out while several others were trapped in the rubble of a three-storeyed residential building that collapsed at the Hussaini Road in Sukkur on Thursday morning. People were apprehensive that as many as 20 to 22 individuals might have been trapped under the collapsed building, but no one was sure about the exact number of those trapped.

“The three-storeyed residential building suddenly collapsed with with a huge bang,” reported a trader. According to neighbours, three families of brothers including Khadim Mughul, Babu and Arsalan resided in the building, which also housed four shops on its ground floor.

As many as six people were pulled out of the rubble and shifted to hospital. SSP Sukkur Irfan Samoo identified them as Shakeel, Hasnain, Adnan, Abdul Hameed, Billal, Ana Bibi and Munazza. He identified the dead as Meena, w/o Bilal Mughal, who was among those injured, and their one-year-old boy Imran. Ms Khalida, w/o Adnan Mughul, was identified as the third person to have died in the building collapse.

Tragically, due to lack of necessary heavy equipment to remove the rubble, the initial rescue began with bare hands by desperate relatives and neighbours, ambulance service and police. It was much later in the day when organised work began and that too due to the Army’s Engineering Corps that got involved. It continued till late after sunset.

Responding to the criticism of slow and delayed response to begin removing the debris, Divisional Commissioner Sukkur, Shafiq Ahmed Mahesar, told The News rescue work in RCC structures was always difficult and time consuming. Mahesar blamed the Sindh Building Control Authority, Sukkur, for negligence in allowing the construction of three-storeyed in the area being a violation of the technical parameters. On Dec 25, 2018, another building with several storeys had collapsed on this very same Hussaini Road, leaving 12 dead and scores injured but despite that no action was taken to check the construction of several other similar structures in violation of the laid down technical parameters.

The Chief Minister Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah, ordered the divisional commissioner Sukkur to ensure the best possible medical treatment to the victims, besides speedy relief and rehabilitation work. The chief minister also directed a comprehensive report into the causes of the tragedy.

The issue of buildings being constructed in Sukkur without proper authorization and in violation of ground rules and building codes has raised serious concerns among the residents of the city. A petition was filed in SHC, division bench, by Advocate Ghulam Shabbir Pathan who pleaded that a number of buildings in the thickly-populated areas of Sukkur had been built without the mandatory permission of the SBCA.

The division bench of the Sindh High Court, Sukkur comprising Justice Nadeem Akhtar and Justice Faisal Kamal Alam had ordered demolition of 55 multi-storeyed buildings with five to 16 levels, built without the permission of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) and the authorities were directed to file a compliance report. The order was passed when SBCA regional director (Sukkur and Larkana) Naveed Asim submitted a list of 55 buildings constructed without the mandatory permission from the authority. Only if the SHC orders would have been complied with, the recurring tragedies would have been averted, said a concerned neighbours.