THE death toll in the Bismillah Building tragedy has risen to a staggering 127... . … During the 22-hour hazardous operation in which the rescuers had also to battle with the smell of death, 37 more bodies and one survivor were extracted. … There was very little chance of any trapped persons surviving for nearly 42 hours under ... 10,000 maunds of concrete [but] the rescuers were not willing to give up hopes of saving a life and were still going about very cautiously. Because of the narrow lanes and approach roads, engineers had to be content with just one … crane … to remove the debris.

[As per a related news agency report,] Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto … expressed his deep shock and grief over the loss of life in the collapse of the … building, and declared that those responsible for the tragedy “will not go unpunished”. In a condolence message … the Prime Minister said “it is without doubt one of the most serious tragedies of this kind and my heart goes out to the victims and their families”. [He] said he had asked the Sind Chief Minister to “devote all his resources to assist the victims of this ghastly tragedy”.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2026