Six people died and at least 100 others, including children, were injured on Sunday when a roof of a religious seminary collapsed in Mian Channu in Khanewal district.
Rescue officials said the roof of Madarrasatul Husnain in Rehmat Colony collapsed during prayers for its founder, Maulvi Rab Nawaz Abid, who died three days ago.
There were over 150 people at the seminary at the time of the incident.
They said the arrangement for women and children had been organised on the rooftop, while the hall was assigned for men.
Witnesses said seeing the larger number of women, a resident of the area, who was also one of the volunteers, asked them to get off the roof, saying it could not bear so much weight. However, they said, the women ignored him and more joined them.
Suddenly, they said, the roof jolted twice, before it fell. Rescue teams from Mian Channu, Cheechawatni, Khanewal and Sahiwal were called and the people were pulled out from underneath the rubble.
Four bodies were pulled out. As many as 100 people were injured. They were taken to the Mian Channu and Cheechawatni tehsil headquarters hospitals, the Sahiwal and Khanewal district headquarters hospitals and Nishtar Hospital in Multan. One of the injured died on the way to a hospital. The injured include 15 seminary students and 15 women. Hospitals’ staff at the THQ and DHQ hospitals and Nishtar Hospital said that of the 100 injured brought to the hospitals, at least 40 had been discharged. Condition of 20 people who were shifted to Nishtar Hospital from the Sahiwal DHQ hospital was reported as critical.
A resident of the area, wishing not to be names, told The Express Tribune that the roof of the seminary had been constructed recently. He said the roof of the seminary had once collapsed in 2009 in an explosion caused by explosives that were stored in it. The incident had left 20 people dead and several others injured. The district administration had given its management Rs150,000 for the reconstruction and repair of the roof.
Seminary manager Maulana Nawaz told The Express Tribune that the funds allotted for the reconstruction of the roof were not enough. He said had there been more funds, a better roof could have been constructed.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 3rd, 2014.