At least 10 killed in Pakistan building collapse

A four-story building collapsed Wednesday in the northwestern Pakistani city of Lahore, killing at least 10 people and wounding at least 70 others, a local official said.

The official, Muhammad Usman, said that local hospitals were treating the injured.

The incident happened in an industrial area of Lahore in a building that was undergoing construction on its fourth floor, said Salman Rafique, a health adviser in Punjab province.

Rescue workers told CNN that more than 150 people were working in the structure, where plastic bags were manufactured, when it fell apart. Those workers said that about 100 people were buried in the rubble.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed grief after the collapse and directed the Punjab provincial government to beef up its rescue efforts.

Deadly building collapses like this one are not unprecedented in Asia, with some of the worst coming in Bangladesh.

At least 15 people — most of them women — died when a veterinary medicine factory collapsed in 2012 in Lahore, according to a police official there.

Exit mobile version