ISLAMABAD, Oct 8: Over 18 people were feared dead in the federal capital after an 11-storeyed residential building collapsed in Sector F-10, while eight people were killed in Murree and one each in Rawalpindi and Taxila in the devastating earthquake on Saturday.
According to the CDA, 38 flats (one-and-a-half block) of Margalla Towers completely collapsed.
Nine bodies and 85 injured were evacuated from the debris till filing of this report.
Two people including an Egyptian died and 32 were injured when they jumped from different stories of the remaining blocks of the building, eyewitnesses said.
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told the press that 150 to 200 people were stated to be under the rubble of the building.
Some foreigners including Japanese, Italians, Egyptians, UN observers, Russians and Sudanese were living in the building and they were stated to be under the debris.
Abid Abbasi adds from Murree: Eight people died and several others injured when the quake hit this hilly resort.
Most of the dead were women and children.
Resham Jan of Sui Potha, Saiqa Bibi, an infant Rehan and Mansha Khan from Ghoi village, Meva Jan and an unidentified person in Ghel village died when their houses collapsed.
A large number of houses were damaged in the city and its suburban areas.
Mohammad Asghar adds from Rawalpindi: One school girl was killed and eight of her class fellows injured when the wall of their school collapsed on Railway Workshop Road.
The deceased was identified as Farah Naz, a student of 7th class.
The roof of another girls’ school caved at Raja Bazaar; however, the students remained unhurt.
Multi-storey commercial and residential buildings in the cantonment area were evacuated for safety. Two minarets of mosques and school walls were collapsed, cracks also appeared on some newly-constructed plazas.
Three railway stations, one each in Taxila, Wah Cantt and Sarai Alamgir developed cracks due to the tremors.
Amjad Iqbal adds from Taxila: one person died of heart attack while a girl student was injured when the earthquake struck Taxila city.
The deceased was identified as Faiz Mohammad, a resident of HMC Colony.
The class 9th student of Government Girls High School, identified as Zeenat, was rushed to the THQ hospital when she sustained injuries in a stampede after the earthquake. Cracks were appeared in the old building of the school.
Sources in the POF hospital at Wah Cantonment said eight students were brought to the hospital from a private school with minor injuries which they suffered when the wall of the school collapsed. However, all of them were sent home.
Yaqoob Malik adds from Attock: Two girl students sustained injuries when the wall of their school collapsed in Hazro due to the earthquake on Saturday morning.
No loss of life has so far been reported from any part of the district.
