April 8, 2003	Tuesday	Safar 5, 1424

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RAWALPINDI, April 7: The search for a missing sales boy, who is presumed to be under the debris of the collapsed building in Commercial Market, continued for the third consecutive day here on Monday.

An official of the Tehsil administration, however, told Dawn that the hope for the survival of the missing boy, Omar Daraz, was diminishing with each passing hour.

Meanwhile, another person on Monday evening contacted the administration and claimed that one of his cousins was also trapped under the debris. A source said the man claimed that his missing cousin was with a labourer Safdar, who had died in the incident.

Meanwhile, a woman residing in a house near the collapsed building told the rescuers that she had heard a mobile phone ringing under the debris at 5am.

The administration on Monday evening requested the National Highway Authority (NHA) to provide concrete cutters as they were facing great difficulties in removing the heavy slabs. A deputy director of the NHA brought the cutters with him, but these were not used.

Col Shahid Butt, the director of the Frontier Works Organization (FWO), who is supervising the rescue operation, told Dawn that they were carrying out rescue work slowly and carefully so that Omar could be found alive. He said removing the slabs at once might put his life in danger, if he was alive. Commenting on the reports that army had left the site without completing the task, he said the army was called to carry out rescue work and to save lives. Removing debris is not army’s job, he said.

He said they were searching Omar very scientifically with the help of another sales boy Ali Raza who was reportedly with Omar when the four-storeyed building, namely Bano Arcade, collapsed on Friday evening.

When asked why relief operation remained suspended on Saturday and Sunday nights, Col Shahid Butt said they were facing shortage of manpower. He said he wanted to provide rest to the volunteers and other people who had been busy in the relief operation continuously for over 30 hours so that they could start relief operation next morning with full energies.

Warrants: The court of magistrate, Husnain Qadir Gull, on Monday issued arrest warrants of two owners of Bano Arcade, who had disappeared from their residence, after the building collapsed on Friday, police said.

New Town police station SHO Sohail Ijaz told Dawn that the arrest warrants had been issued for Sheikh Anwar and Sheikh Aqeel, the two accused identified in the FIR registered with the police.