A five-story residential building collapsed Friday in Karachi’s Lyari district, killing at least six people and injuring six others, police said, as rescue teams combed through the debris in search of survivors.
The structure gave way shortly after 10 a.m. local time (5 a.m. GMT) in the densely populated and impoverished Lyari neighborhood, an area once notorious for gang violence and considered among Pakistan’s most dangerous.
“There were around 20 families living inside,” said Shankar Kamho, 30, a resident who was away from the building at the time of the collapse.
“I got a call from my wife saying the building was cracking, and I told her to get out immediately,” he said at the scene. “She went to warn the neighbors, but one woman told her, ‘This building will stand for at least 10 more years.’ Still, my wife took our daughter and left. About 20 minutes later, the building collapsed.”
Arif Aziz, a senior local police official, said that six bodies had been recovered and six injured people rescued. He estimated up to 100 people had been living in the building.
Saad Edhi of the Edhi Welfare Foundation, which is part of the rescue operation, said there could be “at least eight to 10 more people still trapped,” describing the site as a “worn-out building.” He also confirmed the death toll at six.
Nearby residents rushed to help save neighbors before professional rescue teams arrived. At least five excavators were deployed, but the heavy machinery struggled to access the narrow alleys. Police baton-charged crowds to clear the way for emergency responders.
In June 2020, at least 18 people were killed when a residential building housing about 40 apartments collapsed in the same area.
Roof and building collapses are common across Pakistan, primarily due to poor safety standards and substandard construction materials in the South Asian country of more than 240 million people.
Karachi, home to more than 20 million, is particularly notorious for its crumbling infrastructure, overcrowding, illegal extensions and weak enforcement of building regulations.
