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3 Killed in Building Collapse in Pakistan | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Media ID: 55379027
Caption:

Pakistani rescuers stand on top of a collapsed factory on the outskirts of Lahore in 2015. (AFP)


At least three people were killed on Tuesday when a rundown building collapsed in the Pakistani city of Karachi.

Twelve people were wounded when the three-story dilapidated building collapsed shortly before dawn, a police official said.

The injured were transfered to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where two were stated to be in critical condition.

Senior police official Aran Kobra said the dead included a man and his son, who were sleeping when the building collapsed.

He said up to two people were still believed to be trapped under the rubble. Locals said the building was occupied by four families.

“We are using heavy machinery with care as we have information that one or two people are still trapped in the rubble,” Kobra added.

TV footage showed a teenage boy crying for help as residents struggled with their hands to remove a concrete pillar that had fallen on his leg. Later, the boy was rescued with the help of construction machinery.

The accident also caused damage to nearby buildings which have been evacuated.

Earlier, Karachi’s Deputy Commissioner Farid Uddin said the death toll could climb as rescue workers carefully sifted through the rubble in the poor Liaquatabad neighborhood.

Uddin said the cause of the collapse wasn’t immediately known though reports indicated the building was old and poorly constructed, which could have contributed to the collapse.

Safety codes are often ignored in Pakistan and in some of the poorer areas construction is haphazard and bribes are paid to inspectors to approve substandard construction.