Death toll in Lyari building collapse rises to 31

Lack of skilled efforts in rescue operation has caused to increase the death toll in this mishap. Memorising the golden reminiscences since his childhood, one of the fifth owners of Qasr-e-Ruqqaiya termed the recent renovations in several houses as one of the major causes for the collapse of five-storey building at Musa Lane on Thursday that left 31 people killed so far.
Retaining his flying tears in his eyes, a 45-year-old Riyaz said that two householders of fourth floor and one at first floor had ignored his warning and made complete reconstruction of their homes a few months ago, which might have led the said mishap. Moreover, he said that they were five brothers, who were the owners of the building besides living at its different floors.
Meanwhile this scribe during brief visit to the site came to know that the rescuers of various organisations including military technical staff remained unsuccessful in the complete removal of the rubble of collapsed building but they have managed to recover some more bodies, taking the death toll to 29.
The inhabitants while talking to Business Recorder expressed apprehension that some six to eight more persons of different families are still missing after this mishap and they might be trapped in the debris of the building. They said the police have adopted stereotype approaches in this incident and added that they had booked the owners of the building for these accidental deaths. They said the authorities concerned seem to be reluctant to compensate the victims, as there was no announcement in this regard was made so far. They said that lack of skilled efforts in rescue operation has caused to increase the death toll in this mishap. They urged the authorities concerned to initiate training programmes for the rescue teams to minimise the losses in future.
Meanwhile, the sources said that although the authority has declared 160 structures in the city as dilapidated, the Sindh government is still unable to equip disaster management cell with necessary machinery. Many rescue teams at the incident place are doing useless efforts, which led to worsen the situation besides causing to raise the death toll further. Police said that they were facing difficulties to conduct rescue work because of dense populated area and the presence of criminal elements. According to SSP Naeem Sheikh, the decision regarding the legal action against Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) has not been materialised yet, however, the authorities concerned have started deliberations in this regard.
He further said that several rescuers of different organisations including military technical staff have taken part in this rescue operation and remained successful to dig out 29 bodies besides recovering some 15 injured.