Summary Rescue officials say they have saved 103 people from under the rubble up until now.
LAHORE (Dunya News) – The death toll in the Sundar Industrial Estate factory collapse tragedy rose to 27 on Friday as rescuers continued to look for survivors through the second night of the accident. Grieving families of the victims looked on hoping for some miracle so that they may see their loved ones once again. Rescue officials say they have saved103 people from under the rubble up until now.
Capital Development Authority’s team also reached the accident sight. 4 trained sniffer dogs are also being used in the rescue operation.
The officials of Pak Army and rescue teams are working vigorously day and night, scuffling through the wreckage to find any signs of survivors but sometimes unfortunately coming across lifeless bodies of the victims as two more dead bodies were extricated from the wreckage. Rescuers are utilizing every technology at their disposal including cutters, cranes and drill machines.
Officials also used state of the art equipment to assess if any trace of human could be below the debris. If no such signal is registered, the wreckage is again shifted and removed. The roof of the building was lifted using heavy cranes.
Seeing that the wreckage sift is an enormous task, further rescue teams and machinery were called in from Okara, Kasur, Sheikhupura, Sialkot, Gujranwala and numerous other districts. The rescue operation is being conducted by Pak Army soldiers, Bahria Town rescue officials and others.
Factory employee Mohammad Navid told AFP Thursday that dozens of shift workers may have been sleeping in a part of the building that rescuers had not yet reached, and children as young as 12 had been working in the factory.
Even though rescuers are working steadfastly and diligently, however, precious time is ticking away for those still trapped under the rubble.
The collapse occurred at the four-storey Rajput Polyester polythene bag factory in the Sundar industrial estate, around 45 kilometres (30 miles) southwest of Lahore s city centre. Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif earlier stated that it was possible the building had been damaged after the October 26 earthquake.
Injured workers revealed that the buildings 4th floor was constructed on weak pillars.Laborers had warned the factory owner of the impending danger of the problem but he had paid no heed. It was also revealed that the columns of the building had further embedded 2 feet into the ground due to the weight.
"I have heard about earthquake affect on the building, but according to labourers the owner continued to build an extension," he told reporters.
The government has demanded a report from the Sundar Industrial Estate into the matter.
POOR SAFETY RECORD
Most of the survivors were injured and chief doctor Zia Ullah at Jinnah Hospital, where some were taken, said the majority of the victims were young workers, with many suffering head injuries and fractured limbs.
The army said it was deploying specialist search teams and engineers to help the rescue effort.
Three cranes, a bulldozer and more than 40 emergency rescue vehicles were working at the site, a rescue official said Wednesday.
Provincial spokesman Zaeem Qadri told reporters that progress was slow because the factory was at the end of a narrow lane, making it difficult for excavators to reach the site.
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.
A judicial probe into the blaze was damning, pointing to a lack of emergency exits, poor safety training of workers, the packing in of machinery and the failure of government inspectors to spot any of these faults.
A murder case was registered against the factory owners, but it has never come to trial.
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