LAHORE: At least 20 people were killed and seven injured when the structure of a double-story mosque-cum-seminary partially collapsed in the congested Daroghawala locality on Tuesday.

While rescue work continued till late night, volunteers and police feared that several people were trapped in debris.

Local people, rescue personnel and police faced hurdles in removing debris in the crammed locality because of presence of a large number of people. Police handed over a few bodies to families after legal formalities. The dead include a 12-year-old boy.

Lahore DIG (Operations) Dr Haider Ashraf told Dawn that preliminary investigation suggested that the lentil of the second storey collapsed on the roof of the ground floor which also caved in on people who were offering Zohr prayers. He said the entire structure was in a poor state.

But he said a thorough investigation would determine the exact cause of the collapse because police were concentrating on rescue work.

Residents said the mosque was at least 40 years old and its second storey was built about five years ago.

They said Jamia Masjid Hanfia was built with the help of local people and the structure apparently had developed no major fault or cracks. A portion of the mosque was converted into a seminary — Madressah Nizamia Taleemul Quran.

Resident Mohammad Arshad said the minaret of the mosque was renovated with tiles around a month ago and some material was still lying on the roof.

According to him, some rainwater might have penetrated into the structure and weakened it.

Another resident Mudassir Anwer said the pillar of the ground floor had broken and as a result the roof caved in.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2014