KARACHI: A couple and their son died and another is believed to be under the rubble after their three-storey house in the Malir area collapsed on Monday morning, exposing the preparedness of the city’s search and rescue administration which failed to retrieve the child — dead or alive — even after more than 17 hours of their operation, officials and witnesses said.

The couple’s third son was rescued.

Malir City DSP Khalid Khan said the building had collapsed at around 7.40am.

Rescue services managed to retrieve the bodies of the couple — Javed aka Jimmy and his wife Zehra — and rescue their son Shazain, 15, alive. The body of their son Mohammed Sadiq, 22, was retrieved late in the night. However, another son of the couple, aged 18 years, could not be rescued despite hectic efforts.

The authorities also sought the help of the army’s engineering corps in the rescue operation.

The DSP said the exact cause of the building’s collapse would be known after the removal of debris and a proper inquiry into it.

According to witnesses, the three-storey building was constructed on a plot measuring 96 square yards in Jaffer Tayyar Society. Its first floor was reserved for holding religious gatherings. It was initially a ground-plus-one-storey building, but later two more floors were built.

The area residents told the media that the building structure appeared to be weak and a week ago cracks had developed in its underground water tank.

The deceased owner Jimmy, an income tax official, had given his tenants notice to vacate the building so that its structure could be strengthened and work on it was under way.

The deceased couple was living on the first floor along with their children. The tenants who lived on the second floor had recently shifted to their relatives.

Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar, Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani, the city commissioner and political leaders visited the site.

Mr Ghani told journalists that the rescue operation was still going on and all the institutions concerned had joined it. He said the causes of the building’s collapse would be ascertained after the completion of the rescue operation.

The mayor said the area people had informed the institutions concerned late about the incident. Besides, he added, congested streets also hampered rescue efforts.

Mr Akhtar said that since the area was located at some distance, it took time for rescue services to reach the place. “I am satisfied with the rescue operation,” he said, promising he would stay at the site of the incident till the completion of the rescue work. He said nothing could be said about the exact cause of the collapse of the building at this state.

Meanwhile, Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen leader Allama Ahmed Iqbal Rizvi urged the government to carry out a survey of such dilapidated buildings in the area to prevent such tragedy in future.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2019