SUKKUR, May 5: Ten children were buried alive and 90 other people injured when a double-storey building collapsed in the Bunder Road locality on Sunday.
More than 50 children had assembled to attend the Ameen ceremony of Meena, daughter of Ashraf Ansari, a haleem vendor. While the ceremony was in progress, the building, made of wood and kutcha bricks, came tumbling down, witnesses said.
People rushed to the scene of tragedy to rescue the victims trapped in the rubble. Till writing of this report, 10 bodies had been recovered. The deceased aged between 10 and 12. They were identified as Muhammad Hanif, Anwer, Zulfiqar, Suhail, Tanveer, Danish, Shazia, Faiza, Mehreen and Misbah. Danish, Tanveer and Shazia were brothers and sister. Another of their sister, Ainee, was seriously injured.
Sources said that 42 injured, including 28 children, had been admitted to the Civil Hospital where an emergency was declared. The 10 critically injured were all unconscious.
People had queued up at the hospital to donate blood.
Witnesses said that illegal construction of a multi-storey building that was going on next door with mixing machine and lifts working day and night, had caused damage to the building.
The builder and corporation had been informed of the anticipated damage a number of times, but these warnings went unheeded, the area people said.
Three real brothers, Ikram Ahmed Ansari, Munir Ahmed Ansari and Ashraf Ansari, all Haleem vendors, lived in the building with their family members, numbering 25.
More than 40 vehicles and Edhi ambulances rushed the injured to the hospital. A team of DCO Sukkur was supervising the rescue operation till late in the night.
