Sundar factory collapse: Rescue operation concludes after 131 hours
2079 rescue workers participated in the operation and 309 vehicles were utilized says Capt. Usman
LAHORE (Dunya News) – Rescue operation underway at the factory collapse site in Sundar Industrial Estate, Lahore concluded early morning Tuesday after a total of 131 hours of rescue efforts. Talking to the media, District City Officer (DCO) Capt. Usman stated that Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Shahbaz Sharif has formed an investigative committee into the matter to apprehend the culprits involved in the tragic incident.
Speaking at the accident site, Capt. Usman informed that a total of 2079 rescue workers participated in the difficult and over-whelming rescue operation of the accident while a total of 309 vehicles were utilized during the rubble clearance operation.
Also read: Sundar tragedy: Man rescued after 50 hours, family buried wrong body
The DCO stated that 17,500 tons of wreckage was cleared from the destruction site. He further informed that 45 dead bodies in total had been extricated from the debris.
Deputy General (DG) Rescue also added that 103 people had been taken out alive from the rubble during the rescue efforts. He also stated that state of the art technology had been used in the rescue efforts to find survivors and clear the wreckage as they wanted to extricate victims from the twisted mangle of steel and concrete as soon as they could.
The unfortunate incident occurred almost a week before when a four-storeyed building of Rajput Polyester polythene bag factory came crashing down with workers still inside in the Sundar Industrial Estate, around 45 kilometres (30 miles) southwest of Lahore s city centre.
Factory employee Mohammad Navid had earlier told AFP that up to 50 shift workers may have been sleeping in a part of the building that rescuers had not yet reached, and that children as young as 12 had been working in the factory.
A list of the injured from one of the three hospitals the wounded were shifted to, however, showed three 15-year-olds as the youngest patients listed.
Another employee, 18-year-old Mohammad Irfan, told AFP from his hospital bed that the workers were "mostly" aged between 14 and 25.
The factory may have suffered structural damage in the October 26 quake which killed almost 400 people across Pakistan and Afghanistan, Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif said.
"I have heard about the earthquake affecting the building, but according to labourers the owner continued to build an extension," he told reporters.
"Some of the pillars of the building had been weakened in the earthquake," 22-year-old Navid told AFP, adding that workers had informed the owner of the problems.
"The building caved in with a big bang and I fell unconscious on the ground," he said, adding that he had regained consciousness after some 15 minutes.
"I heard people screaming and shouting for help."
Pakistan has a poor safety record in the construction and maintenance of buildings.
At least 24 people died last year when a mosque collapsed in the same city, while more than 200 people lost their lives, mostly due to collapsed roofs, following torrential rain and flooding in 2014.
In 2012, at least 255 workers were killed when a fire tore through a clothing factory in Karachi, one of the deadliest industrial accidents in Pakistani history.
