Two more bodies retrieved from Karachi's collapsed building

KARACHI: The rescue authorities on Saturday recovered two more bodies from the debris of a collapsed building in Gulbahar area of the city as families of the victims staged protest for arrest of builder, ARY NEWS reported.

The rescue authorities of the Sindh and Karachi municipal authorities continued removing debris from the collapsed building site on the third consecutive day of the incident.

The families of the victims including those who lost nine members of a family in the incident staged protest, blocking the road leading to Lasbela Chowrangi from Gulbahar area.

They demanded for the immediate arrest of the builder involved in the construction of the ill-fated building.  The protesters also chanted slogans against construction of illegal structures in the city with the support of the corrupt SBCA officials.

On Friday, a Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) team probing the collapse of a residential building in Gulbahar area of the city claimed that the two-storey building caved in due to its weak foundation.

The three-member SBCA team reached the incident site that has already claimed lives of at least 16 people today. The initial report prepared by the team said that the building comprised of an old structure and weak foundation.

Read More: Karachi Building Collapse: Rescue operation picks up pace, many still under debris 

“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.

He said that the SBCA is yet to found any record on the collapsed building and once the debris is cleared, the committee would visit again to launch probe into the matter.