Chinese ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong briefs Pakistani Information Minster Pervez Rashid about the humanitarian supplies donated by the Chinese government in Islamabad. China has provided humanitarian supplies worth 10mn yuan ($1.6mn) to Pakistan for the relief of the earthquake affected people.
Agencies/Islamabad
The toll from collapse of a four-storey factory in Punjab province of Pakistan has risen to 53.
More bodies of victims of the Sundar Industrial Estate tragedy were recovered on Sunday. Rescuers said there are still chances of survivors under the rubble, Geo TV reported.
Rescue officials said over a hundred survivors have so far been pulled out from the debris of the Rajput Polyester manufacturing factory near Lahore city.
Injured survivors said the factory’s owner, who was adding a new floor to the building, had ignored an advice from his contractor to stop construction after cracks appeared in the walls following a powerful earthquake on October 26.
Of the 167 people trapped in the building, 109 were rescued. Most of them had minor injuries, rescuers said.
Meanwhile, an 18-year-old youth, Shahid, was pulled out alive from the debris of the factory 51 hours after the tragedy struck on Friday.
Dr Zulfiqar Ahmad, the executive district officer health Lahore, said it was unclear exactly how many people were in the building when it collapsed, although survivors estimated between 150-200 people had been inside.
“Now we are using sniffer dogs to try to find people,” he said. “Only the ground floor is left ... It will take another day to clear all the rubble after which we will be in a better position to tell the final death toll ... We fear it will increase.”
Survivors said the factory’s owner, who was adding a new floor to the building, had ignored advice from his contractor and pleas from his workers to stop construction after large cracks appeared in the building following last month’s 7.5 magnitude earthquake.
The owner was among those killed in the collapse of the factory, which manufactured plastic bags 20 km south of the eastern city of Lahore.
The accident will once again raise questions over Pakistan’s lax enforcement of safety and building codes.
In September 2012, 289 people burned to death in a fire at a garment factory in the southern city of Karachi.
