At least 1 killed, 6 injured as roof of under-construction building collapses in Multan

LAHORE: At least one individual was killed, while six others were injured on Tuesday when the roof of an under-construction building collapsed near Multan’s Northern Bypass, the Rescue 1122 stated.

In a statement, Rescue 1122 said the roof of an under-construction plaza had collapsed near Multan’s National College of Business Administration and Economics on Northern Bypass.

The agency said that so far, six injured individuals had been rescued and shifted to Nishtar Hospital, adding that one person was killed in the collapse.

A rescue operation was underway to rescue trapped individuals, Rescue 1122 said, adding that at least 10 to 15 labourers were working at the site at the time of the incident.

Upon receiving the information, Rescue 1122 relief teams were immediately dispatched to the incident site, the statement said. “Rescue 1122 teams reached the incident site within 3 minutes and initiated the search and rescue operation.”

10 vehicles of Rescue 1122 are actively engaged in the relief operations. The relief operations include five ambulances, three rescue motorbikes, one rescue vehicle, and one fire vehicle, it added.

In a statement, Multan’s Nishtar Hospital spokesperson also said that six injured were shifted to the hospital, and the hospital record showed that another individual was also brought dead to the hospital.

As per the records, three injured received head injuries — whose nature and criticality are unknown — while the other three received minor injuries.

The spokesperson said doctors and paramedical staff were on high alert in the emergency room, and the best medical facilities were being provided to the injured.

Building and roof collapses are common in Pakistan, often attributed to poor safety standards and the use of substandard construction materials. A teacher and 30 students were killed when a school’s roof collapsed in Peshawar earlier this month.

In September, two men died in Pakpattan after the roof of their house collapsed during heavy rain and a windstorm.

On June 30, 14 children lost their lives when the roof of a private tuition centre collapsed in Lahore’s Kahna area.

The incident had come less than two months after four children were killed and 20 people injured after the roof of a classroom at a private school in Dera Ghazi Khan collapsed. A probe into the DG Khan incident revealed that construction for an extension of the tuition centre’s building was under way when the roof of the classroom collapsed.