Staff Reporter
Five more bodies were recovered on Sunday evening from the debris of a building that fell in Karachi’s Golimar area earlier this week, bringing the death toll to 27. According to rescue sources, overall six bodies were recovered on the fourth day of the rescue operation in the affected area, while many still are stuck under the wreckage, fears of the death toll rising still exist. 36 injured who were pulled out from under the debris were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for immediate medical treatment. Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Friday had taken notice of the building collapse and directed Commissioner Karachi to ensure that rescue and relief operations were executed smoothly in the area. A Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) team probing the collapse of a residential building in the Gulbahar area of the city claimed that the multi-storey building caved in due to its weak foundation. The initial report prepared by the team said that the building comprised of an old structure and weak foundation. “No development work was ongoing in the building at the time of its collapse,” the report said and added that further clarity into the matter would come after the debris is removed. The report also said that the underground boring in nearby areas impacted the building foundation. “We will be sending the samples from the debris for lab tests in order to ascertain real cause of the collapse,” said one official of the building authority. Sindh Building Control Authority (SCBA) Director General Nasim-ul-Ghani Sahito constituted a three-member committee to “probe into the incident of collapse of building situated on Plot No.95/1 400 quarters adjacent to Rizvia Society, Liaquatabad Town”, a notification said. The team is led by SBCA structure director, Benish Shabbir and comprises SCBA (Baldia Town) Director Nadeem Ahmed and head of the Architecture and Planning Department of NED University, Noman Ahmed. According to the terms of references, the committee will have to submit a “report for the cause of collapse with reference to soil test report, where the building was existing (sic)”.
