LAHORE: All hopes to rescue 20 or so people believed to be alive under the debris of the collapsed Sundar factory are dwindling with every passing day.

Although seven more bodies were recovered on Saturday, the fourth day of the operation, there was no end to quest for dear ones by some people. Some officials called into question a lack of capacity or training of the rescue agencies to tackle structure collapse disasters.

Forty people have been confirmed dead and there is a strong possibility that 20 people are still trapped in the depth of the four-storey building wreckage. The district coordination officer confirmed 40 deaths, saying the rescue operation was likely to be completed in a day or two.

An official told Dawn that the rescue experts were lacking management skills in dealing with the structural collapse emergencies, saying they launched operation in the first 24 hours without seeking original map to strike in the right direction.

He said there were now strong indications that the death toll was expected to rise to 60 as the rescue experts had expressed little hope in finding more ‘survivors’ after 72 hours of the tragic incident.

Officials point out rescue operation shortcomings

Most bodies were found from the Colony portion of the collapsed building, a spokesman for the Rescue 1122 told Dawn. He said the number of missing workers was compiled on the basis of the count of their families and relatives who were still present there since the incident took place.

More than 500 workers and experts of the armed forces, district administration, Rescue 1122, Punjab Police, Bahria Town, Capital Development Authority and other civil and welfare organisations are currently taking part in the rescue operation.

Some 70 vehicles and the latest equipment/machinery including hydraulic cranes, drillers, cutters and specialised trucks were engaged to remove the structure but the experts could hardly remove wreckage of one roof only, an official told this reporter.

He said as the rescue operation entered the fourth day, the rescue agencies were facing tough queries for not saving the trapped people.

The DCO defended his position saying the Sundar Estate tragedy was the country’s biggest structure-fall incident. He said the pace of the rescue operation was not accelerated due to the presence of the survivors under the huge debris.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2015

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