In Lahore’s Harbanspura, a three‑storey house collapsed late on Wednesday, resulting in the deaths of eleven people and injuries to six others, according to officials.
Lahore Deputy Commissioner’s spokesperson, Harris Ali, told Dawn that rescue teams had recovered a minor girl’s body, raising the casualty count to eleven.
The rescue operation was concluded once the girl’s body was recovered, he added.
The building housed three brothers and their families, who were joined by their sister and her children for a birthday celebration on Wednesday night, at which time the structure collapsed.
“The building collapsed floor by floor, starting from the top down,” he stated.
The cause remains undetermined, and retired Lahore Deputy Commissioner and former Captain Muhammad Ali Ijaz has ordered an inquiry, according to his office statement.
The statement noted that he supervised the rescue effort, which was carried out by Rescue 1122 teams with assistance from district administration officials.
Heavy machinery was also deployed to expedite the operation, the statement said.
The collapse occurred a month after a roof collapse at a tuition centre in Lahore’s Kahna district resulted in the deaths of fourteen children.
Police registered a case against the centre’s owners and the building’s contractor the day after the incident, and the first information report indicated that the suspects were adding soil to the dilapidated roof, which gave way under the additional weight.
Earlier in May, four children were killed and twenty people injured when the roof of a classroom at a private school in Dera Ghazi Khan collapsed.
An investigation determined that construction of an extension was underway at the time of the classroom roof collapse.
The district administration’s incident report said the roof was overloaded with sand and bricks, exceeding its capacity and causing the collapse.
