30 feared trapped in Mirpur building collapse

MIRPUR: More than 30 people feared trapped as they went buried under the debris of a 5-storeyed building of a marriage-cum-banquet hall that caved-in near Chakswari town in Mirpur district of Azad Jammu Kashmir on Friday.

Sixteen of the trapped persons, mostly the laborers, nine of them in very critical condition were rescued by the relief teams till last reports came in till Friday night, according to an ISPR press release.

The five-storeyed mega building complex of Roopayal marriage cum banquet hall caved in suddenly when the renovation work in the building was in progress. The owner of building

identified as Chaudhry Nadeem Roopayal was also among the victims trapped in the collapsed structure of the mega building complex. The actual cause of the building collapse could not be ascertained so far.

Rescue teams belonging to Pak Army headed by Brig Saeed and Brig Irfan, teams of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), Rescue 1122, Civil Defense, local volunteers and police immediately rushed the site to join the relief works to rescue the victims – at least 30 in number, police and the eye witnesses said.

The seriously injured persons were shifted to the local as well as Mirpur Division Headquarter hospital where their condition is stated to be critical. Besides AJK Minister for Disaster Management Ahmed Raza Qadri, Mirpur Divisional and District Administration officials led by Divisional

Commissioner Muhammad Raqeeb, DC Raja Tahir Mumtaz, SSP Mirpur Raja Irfan Saleem and others immediately rushed the scene and supervised the rescue operations. – APP