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. 

The complaint was registered under criminal sections covering public servant misconduct, negligence in building safety, unintentional death, intentional bodily harm and property damage. These offenses carry penalties ranging from fines and short-term imprisonment to financial compensation and long-term jail.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah suspended Director General SBCA Ishaque Khuhro and ordered an inquiry over the incident on Monday. 

He also directed the SBCA to carry out safety inspections of all buildings in the city. The Sindh government announced Rs1 million ($3,513) in compensation for the families of the 27 victims.

Many of the building’s occupants were members of the low-income Hindu minority community, and residents estimated that around 40 people were inside when the structure collapsed.

Fotan Mansion had been declared unsafe three years ago, according to the SBCA. This incident is the latest in a series of deadly building collapses in Karachi.

In February 2020, a five-story building in Rizvia Society collapsed, killing at least 27 people. The following month, another residential structure in Gulbahar came down, claiming 16 lives.

In June 2021, a three-story building in Malir collapsed, resulting in four deaths. Just last year, in August, a building collapse in Qur’angi killed at least three people.