Building fall toll passes 130

Press, 16 September 1976, Page 8

Building fall toll passes 130

NZPA-Reuter Karachi Mote than 130 people are feared to have died in the collapse of a six-storey building in the slum area of Lavari in the suburbs of Karachi. Officials of the Karachi Municipal Corporation said that more than 50 bodies had been recovered from the tons of rubble, and another 50 people had been rushed to hospitals. More than 200 volunteers and workmen were engaged in rescue and digging work, which was progressing very slowly. One official said that there was little chance of finding anyone alive under the rubble.

He said more than 40 families had been living in the building, which was built in 1974. He said the building had been built, with defects and with material unfit for construction purposes.

The recent- week-long rains in Karachi must have caused considerable damage to the structure, officials said.

The Sind Provincial Minister for Housing (Mr Jam Sadiq Ali) has been personally supervising rescue operations at the scene. Also at the site has been the Prime Minister (Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto), who dashed to Karachi from Punjab and ordered that compensation be paid to the victims. Officials said it would take at least three days to clear the tons of rubble and debris. The Chief Minister of Sind (Mr Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi) has ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident, and the builder has been detained by the police for questioning. The government has set up three relief camps for those made homeless.

The police said the survivors — about 50 of them — were from the top two floors of the building. Residents of the lower floors are all reported to have been killed, and their bodies trapped inside the rubble.