Pakistan police detain eight Sindh building authority officials after Karachi building collapse
KARACHI: Eight officials of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) and the owners of a building that collapsed in Karachi last week have been detained in connection with the incident, Pakistani police said on Thursday.
A five-story residential building, Fotan Mansion, collapsed last Friday around 10 am in the impoverished Lyari neighborhood of Karachi, trapping dozens under the rubble and prompting a large-scale rescue operation. Rescue officials recovered 27 bodies from the rubble after three days.
The collapse of the dilapidated building once again exposed the persistent issue of unsafe and poorly regulated housing in Karachi, Pakistan’s most populous city, which is home to over 20 million people. The rapid urbanization and weak enforcement of building codes have put countless residents at risk.
“We have detained eight officials of the SBCA and the owners of the building in connection with the first information report regarding the building collapse in Lyari,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) City Arif Aziz told Arab News.
