Five-year-old girl rescued from debris of collapsed building in Sukkur

SUKKUR: A five-year-old girl was successfully rescued alive from the rubble of a three-storeyed collapsed building in Sukkur, while the death toll reached up to seven on Friday.

Reports said a five-year- old girl Navida was rescued alive after 21 hours from the debris besides four bodies were also recovered. Three of them were identified as Shaheen, w/o Arsalan, Khalid Mahmood, and Murtaza Mughal. Muhammad Ali Mughal, a family member of the victims, said as many as 27 members were living in the three flats. He said he and four other family members were out of the house when the building collapsed.

Mughal said four people were still missing in the rubble, adding that owing to the difficulties in rescue operation, the advance search and rescue team of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) came from Karachi to join the rescue teams of Pakistan Army, Rangers and Edhi and other civilian authorities.

Reports said heavy machinery were used for removing debris and rescuing the entrapped victims, while sniffer dogs were also being used to speed up the rescue operation. On the directions of Chief Minister Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah, MPA Syed Farrukh Shah along with district administration and PDMA officials visited the collapsed building.

Farrukh Shah expressed satisfaction over the rescue operation and said the Sindh government had provided all the modern machineries and equipments. The Sindh MPA said an emergency had been declared at the Civil Hospital Sukkur, where the injured were being treated at government expense, and if needed, would be shifted to Karachi or other hospitals for further treatment.

Earlier, the deputy director PDMA, Mohammad Juman Thebo, said a five-year old girl was rescued from the rubble who miraculously survived after 21 hours. The deputy commissioner, Sukkur, said notices were circulated to the owners of 71 buildings that were declared dilapidated and were asked for evacuation.