HYDERABAD: Three labourers were killed when the roof of an under-construction house collapsed over them in the Mughal Mohallah near Hussainabad police station on Monday.

The labourers were identified as Mohammad Aleem, 35, son of Allah Dino Mallah, Abdul Rasheed, 30, son of Aamo Mallah, and Mohammad Irshad, 32, son of Pir Bukhsh Solangi. They all were residents of Hussainabad.

Their bodies were retrieved from under the concrete debris. A mason, Yar Mohammad Solangi, and a passer-by, Arif Gul, sustained minor injuries in the incident.

City ASP Zahida Parveen and a police team from the Rapid Response Force (RRF) rushed to the spot and joined the area residents in the rescue work but unavailability of essentially required machinery and equipment caused delay in the operation.

The house was owned by Moha­mmad Aslam Abbasi, who has been taken into custody by the Hussai­nabad police. An extra storey was being raised by Mr Abbasi, said to be a former policemen, but the newly constructed roof collapsed.

Officials of revenue department and Sindh Building Control Autho­rity (SBCA) also arrived at the scene. SBCA officials are reported to have collected samples of construction material for examination.

Hussainabad SHO Niaz Panhwar said that heirs of deceased labourers were reluctant to get a post-mortem examination of the bodies performed but police persuaded them.

He said the police were waiting for someone to lodge an FIR of the incident but if nobody turned up, then the case would be registered on behalf of the state.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2018