At least nine people died and seven were injured after a five-storey building collapsed in Karachi’s Lyari area on Friday, officials said.
Head of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Trauma Centre of Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi, Dr Sabir Memon, told Dawn.com that eight bodies were brought to the centre while one person died during treatment. “Total nine deaths uptil now are recorded in our system,” he said.
Dr Memon added that among seven injured people, six were discharged after being provided treatment and one was still admitted.
Four men, two women and a teenage girl were injured, according to a list of patients seen by Dawn.com, issued earlier today by the trauma centre.
Today’s incident comes days after a portion of a building collapsed in the city’s Kharadar area. However, no casualties or injuries were reported.
The Public Account Committee of the Sindh Assembly had directed the provincial government in December to take urgent steps to evacuate over 570 buildings declared “dangerous” by authorities across Karachi.
Rescue efforts were underway at the building situated on Fida Hussain Shaikha Road in Lyari’s Baghdadi neighbourhood, according to a statement from the Baghdadi police.
Pakistan Rangers, in a statement, said its personnel were also assisting in the rescue operations and “engaged in rescuing individuals trapped under the rubble”.
The heavy rescue machinery struggled to access the narrow alleys, and police baton-charged residents to clear the way, AFP reported.
Speaking to reporters at the site of the incident, Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab said the government needed to “take action”, noting that there were around 434 buildings in the Old City area that had been declared “dangerous” by the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA).
A statement by the authority put the number of such buildings across Karachi at 588.
“We have two options: to convince people to move out or force them to evacuate,” Wahab said, adding that any government tries not to take any forced action but to convince people.
“This loss of lives today shows that when the state or the government tells you anything, you should follow it.”
The mayor requested the inhabitants of such dilapidated buildings to evacuate as soon as possible to prevent any unpleasant incident and loss of life or property.
The casualties included Fatima Babu and Hoor Bai — both aged 55 years — 21-year-old Prantic Arsi, 32-year-old Prem and 35-year-old Waseem Babu, according to the list issued by the trauma centre.
The injured were listed as 17-year-old Kishna Jumna Das, 25-year-old Rashid Aziz, 29-year-old Mujeeb Ali, 30-year-old Santia Chaitan and Chanda Jumma Lal, 45-year-old Ghulam Hussain, and 50-year-old Yousaf Subhan.
Saad Edhi of the Edhi Foundation described the structure to AFP as a “worn-out building”. Police official Arif Aziz told AFP that up to 100 people had been living in the building.
Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaan Ul Haseeb Khan told Dawn.com that the incident reportedly occurred between 9-9:30am but due to disruption of the communication network, the department received the information late.
He said that as per the residents and relatives, there were still 20-25 people stuck in the rubble and the rescue operation was still under way. He said some families had already realised the gravity of the situation and begun leaving with a few of them having already left the building as its structure had started to deteriorate after the recent rains.
Meanwhile, the SBCA said it had declared the plot as dangerous through its Technical Committee for Dangerous Buildings after a thorough inspection conducted in October 2022.
It said it had received a complaint from the Sindh Human Rights Commission on July 22, 2022, and the authority had thereafter promptly issued the first ejectment notice on June 2, 2023, directing the residents and occupants to vacate the premises.
It said a second notice was issued on February 28, 2024, followed by a third with a three-day final warning and lastly a fourth notice addressed to the managing director of K-Electric, Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) on June 25, 2024, instructing them to disconnect utility services.
The SBCA added that an urgent reminder for ejectment was issued on June 2 with copies sent to the South deputy and assistant commissioners and the Kalari station house officer, requesting their intervention to evacuate the premises and prevent any potential incident.
“On June 29, 2025, the SBCA director also reported that residents were warned via megaphones to evacuate the building immediately.
“Regrettably, the residents were reluctant to vacate the building unless alternate accommodation was provided. Furthermore, the utility agencies, K-Electric, SSGC, and KWSB, did not respond or disconnect services in a timely manner, nor did the district administration paid attention and responded by our issued ejectment notices.
“It is important to note that the monsoon season is ongoing, increasing the risk associated with dangerous structures. According to SBCA records, 588 buildings have been declared dangerous throughout Karachi with 107 such buildings in Lyari alone. The SBCA has repeatedly advertised these threats through print and electronic media.”
It also pointed out that during his tenure, former Sindh chief secretary Sohail Rajput had instructed then-Karachi commissioner Saleem Rajput to take efforts to vacate the buildings declared dangerous by the SBCA Technical Committee. It added that the matter was still pending.
‘We are helpless’: Relatives worry for trapped families All six family members of 70-year-old Jumho Maheshwari were at his flat on the first floor when he left for work early in the morning.“Nothing is left for me now — my family is all trapped and all I can do is pray for their safe recovery,” he told AFP
Another resident, Maya Sham Jee, said her brother’s family was also trapped under the rubble.“It’s a tragedy for us. The world has been changed for our family,” she told AFP.
“We are helpless and just looking at the rescue workers to bring our loved ones back safely.”
Shankar Kamho, aged 30, a resident of the building who was out at the time, said around 20 families were living inside.
“I got a call from my wife saying the building was cracking and I told her to get out immediately,” he told AFP at the scene.
“She went to warn the neighbours, but one woman told her ‘this building will stand for at least 10 more years’. Still, my wife took our daughter and left. About 20 minutes later, the building collapsed.”
Saeed Ghani stresses timely evacuation of unsafe buildings .Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani said a high-level committee has been formed that will submit a report on the incident within three days.
His spokesperson Zubair Memon said the committee has been directed to submit a report identifying the responsible officers and their negligence. The minister also ordered the suspension of the related officials at the SBCA.
Speaking to reporters at the site of the incident, Ghani lamented that residents did not evacuate the building despite being served notices previously due to the unsafe conditions of the run-down structure.
“Not one but many notices were given to them (residents) to evacuate the building in the past four to six years. But I can also understand the citizens’ struggle.
“[…] On the one hand is your home in which you are residing, [but] on the other hand is your life,” Ghani added, urging residents of other dilapidated structures to evacuate to avoid any disaster.
“If we forcibly make them evacuate, then also a humanitarian aspect comes forward, and we have to become a target of criticism for it,” the minister stressed.
Ghani said he had been told that the building was built in 1974. “There is an entire mafia that constructs these illegal buildings in the city; we have taken strict action against them and filed FIRs,” he said, urging citizens not to buy or rent such buildings to “end the demand”.
Taking notice of the incident in a statement, Ghani ordered the top officials of the relevant authorities, including the SBCA, to reach the site of the incident to monitor the rescue efforts.“A report on the causes of the building collapse and all its reasons should be submitted immediately,” he said in the statement issued by Memon.
“All obstacles around the building should be removed to speed up the rescue operation,” Ghani added.Roof and building collapses are common across Pakistan, mainly because of poor safety standards and the use of shoddy construction materials.
But Karachi, home to more than 20m, is especially notorious for poor construction, illegal extensions, ageing infrastructure, overcrowding and lax enforcement of building regulations
In April, a 10-year-old girl died when a three-storey building in Bhains Colony suddenly collapsed, while a man and a woman were pulled alive from the debris.
In October 2023, five people were killed and four others injured when an under-construction building collapsed in Shah Faisal Colony.
The city witnessed two such incidents within 72 hours in September 2020, claiming the lives of at least three people and injuring over a dozen.
Lyari also faced a similar incident in June 2020, when 22 people were killed after a five-storey residential building housing about 40 apartments collapsed.
A building collapse in Karachi’s Gulbahar area in March 2020 killed 27 people. A similar 2011 incident in Lyari’s Musa Lane neighbourhood took 33 lives.
Sindh Rescue 1122 Director General (DG) Abid Jalaluddin Shaikh, in a statement, said the service’s Central Command and Control Centre received an alert of the incident at 10:53am.
“As soon as the alert was received, the Urban Search and Rescue team, along with a disaster-response vehicle (DRV), immediately reached the site of the incident,” the Rescue 1122 DG asserted.
He detailed that over 100 rescue personnel, five DRVs, two snorkels and multiple ambulances were present at the building’s location. Cranes and lifters have also been dispatched to the site, DG Shaikh added.
He explained that there were hindrances during the rescue operation due to the “unruly crowd, various road blockades and mobile network [issues]”.Mobile services are usually suspended in certain areas due to security concerns during Muharram.
The Rescue 1122 head affirmed that the operation would continue till the site was “cleared”.
Rescue officials at the site of a building collapse in Karachi’s Lyari area on July 4, 2025. — screengrab from video via Imtiaz Ali
Taking notice of the incident, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah directed that rescue teams immediately rescue those trapped under the rubble, while immediate medical assistance be provided to the injured.
“This is an unfortunate incident; concerned authorities should submit an immediate report,” CM Murad was quoted as saying in a statement by his spokesperson Abdul Rashid Channa.
CM Murad also sought details of dilapidated buildings in Karachi from the SBCA.
“Dangerous buildings should be identified immediately and practical steps should be taken to protect citizens,” CM Murad said. “Negligence will not be tolerated; protection of human lives is the top priority.”
A five-storey residential building collapsed in Karachi’s Lyari neighbourhood, claiming at least five life and injuring at least six people, rescue officials said on Friday. However, Official sources confirmed the death of three
