Five sisters and a close female relative were killed on Saturday night when the roof of their house collapsed during construction work in Karachi’s Afghan Camp near Jinjal Goth, Gulshan-e-Maymar, officials said on Sunday.

Four others, including two minor children, were also injured. The condition of one wounded man was said to be critical.

Officials blamed the probable cause of the roof collapse on a heavy burden of construction material being placed on the dilapidated house.

Gulshan-e-Maymar Station House Officer (SHO) Agha Asadullah said, “The roof of the house collapsed in a house in Afghan Camp, and as a result, 10 family members came under its debris.”

SHO Asadullah said rescue efforts were launched, but four children died on the spot, while two young girls were pronounced dead at the hospital.

Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed said five females aged seven, eight, 10, 14 and 20 were brought from the jurisdiction of Gulshan-i-Maymar. All were dead on arrival.

“The relatives refused a post-mortem examination. There were multiple injuries all over their bodies. Medicolegal certificates were issued,” the police surgeon said.

SHO Asadullah said that the single-storey house appeared to be old and in dilapidated condition. He added that reti-bajri and other materials were being used to repair its roof, which could not withstand the burden and fell on family members asleep in the house.

He noted that although the incident occurred in Afghan Camp, the victims were not Afghan refugees. They originally hailed from Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A neighbour, Matiullah, told Dawn.com that when he was leaving for work at New Subzi Mandi at the time of Iftaar, he saw heavy construction material being placed on the roof.

He said he warned the family of dangers since it was a katcha (mud) house, but the construction workers laughed at him. Matiullah said he received information about the incident at 8:30pm and rushed back to join rescue work initiated by the residents themselves.

Rescue 1122 official Hassaan Khan told Dawn.com that they had received information about the incident at 11pm but added that by the time they reached the spot, the bodies had already been shifted to the hospitals.

He said the roof was built with ‘tile material’ and that residents told the rescue workers that its pieces had been falling.

The injured were identified as Mikail, 40; Nasira, 37; Noman, 3; and Asif, 7. Police said the condition of Mikail was critical.

The officer said that since this was an accident, no legal proceedings had been taken.

Saad Edhi said the coffins of all deceased girls had been shifted to the Edhi morgue, but till late Sunday evening, the relatives had not arrived to take the bodies for burial.