|
|
|
| October 22, 2005 | Saturday | Ramzan 17, 1426 |
Tower death toll 73 as 6 more bodies recovered
ISLAMABAD, Oct 21: Six more bodies including four Swedish and a Spanish were recovered from underground water tank of Margalla Towers bringing the death toll to 73. The bodies were recovered after 13 days of Margalla Towers tragedy.
Following are the persons whose bodies were recovered: Madelein Giobel, 35, Emdla Giobel, 7, Elias Giobel and Eira Giobel, 2, a Spanish national Enrique Lafarge and a Pakistani national Naseem Ahmed.
However, two people Mrs Naseem Ahmed, 70, and one Syed Monas resident of flat No-309 are still missing.
The Swedish family was living in a flat No-905, while Mr Naseem and Spanish national were residing in Flats No-805 and 1005 respectively.
Some of the eye witnesses said the bodies were recovered after winding up of the rescue operation and teams were leaving the site.
“At that time we thought that if the rescue team returns, who will recover the missing bodies. Then we requested the army team to carry out search of underground water tank so that if any other body was there, could be recovered,” a resident of the building said.
“However, a question was still unresolved that how the people living on eighth and ninth floor of the building went into under ground water tank,” the resident said.
He said half of the fifth block of the Margalla Towers in which these five people were living, fell vertically but did not cave in. “This could be one of the reasons that the bodies were thought to be in underground water tank.
In the meantime, an official of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration said a meeting, presided over secretary interior, was held at the site of collapsed Margalla Towers to review the search operation for the missing person.
Commander III Brigade, chief Commissioner and IG Police were prominent among the participants. It was decided that all efforts would be made to locate the missing persons, the official said.
It was decided to carry out excavation of an underground water tank filled with rubble in the closed vicinity of collapsed Towers, he said.
“Fortunately, when the engineers of Frontier Works Organization and Islamabad Fire Brigade started digging, the bodies of four members of a Swedish family, a Spanish national a local man were recovered and shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences,” he said.
He said the excavation of the remaining portion of the water tank was under progress which was expected to be completed by Saturday morning.
It was hoped that the bodies of the rest of the missing persons would also be recovered soon, he added.
|
|
|
|
