LAHORE, April 14: Five members of a family and their landlord were buried alive and four children suffered injuries when a rundown house collapsed in Sanda on the Bund Road on Thursday. The widow, Ms Rubina, 37, had rented out the upper storey of her house to Mohammad Azam, who together with his mother, wife and five children, had been living there for some years.

Neighbours told police that the building had decayed and walls of its upper storey developed cracks. The roof also was in a poor state.

The roof of the upper storey caved in when all members of the family, except Azam, were present there. The widow and her two children were on the ground floor.

The upper storey collapsed to the ground level and both the families were trapped into the rubble. Neighbours rushed there for a rescue operation and called police.

The police, bomb disposal squad, fire tenders and other civic agencies rushed to the scene and joined the rescue operation already launched by the residents.

Both families were recovered from under the debris in critical condition. They were taken to hospitals where the widow was pronounced dead on arrival and her two children were stated to be in critical condition.

The police said Azam’s mother Naseem Bibi, 60, wife Tasleem Bibi, 40, two daughters — Komal, 12, and Sumbal, 8, — and son Faisal, 18, were also received dead in the hospitals. Two more minors of the family had suffered injuries and were admitted to the Mayo Hospital in critical condition.

The bodies were returned to the families without autopsy. No case has been registered so far.