A newly constructed six-storey residential building in the Moosa Colony neighbourhood of Karachi collapsed on Monday after the structure suffered damages due to the recent heavy rains. The collapse also damaged an adjoining two-storey building.
No casualties were reported since the building had already been evacuated by the local police after the structure had been declared dangerous after it had tilted due to the rains.
Police said the evacuation had started by Sunday night and the building had been completely vacated by Monday morning, but important valuables of the residents were still at their homes.
The six-storey building had been built only on 40 square yards. The inhabitants had been given possession of their flats by the builder around three months ago. The flat holders said that after the structure had been damaged due to the heavy rains, they complained to the builder, who insisted that the building would not collapse and asked them to stay in their houses.
“We are safe but we have lost all of our money that we had invested in buying the flats. Now everyone is saying that the building was illegal. Where were these authorities when this illegal building was being built?” an affected person said, and demanded that action be taken against the builder and the officials concerned. The CCTV camera footage of the incident shows people running as soon as the building collapsed, while the nearby pole-mounted transformer can also be seen falling to the ground. Debris was removed using heavy machinery.
The builder had sold the flats for Rs3.5 million each, but using poor construction material caused the structure to collapse. Cracks also appeared in the two-storey building next to it and it is also reportedly being demolished.
After receiving information, the police also reached the area and cordoned off the site of the collapse, restricting people from entering. The road leading from Karimabad to the Ziauddin Hospital was also closed for traffic, which was diverted towards an alternative route.
Karachi has witnessed multiple incidents of building collapse owing to the negligence of the civic authorities who have kept mum over the construction of multi-storey structures in the metropolitan city without government approval.
Labourer dies
A labourer identified as 50-year-old Zahoor died after a wall of an under-construction house collapsed in the Soldier Bazaar area. The under-construction house where the incident occurred is located in Warsi Muhalla. Police said that a labourer had died while another identified as Nazeer had been seriously injured, adding that the mishap occurred while construction work was under way.
