A five-story residential building collapsed Friday morning in Karachi's densely populated Lyari neighborhood, killing at least six people and trapping others beneath the rubble, officials said. The incident highlights Pakistan's ongoing struggle with unsafe housing as rescue teams worked through the day to locate survivors in the debris of what authorities had previously declared a dangerous structure.
The building, known as Fotan Mansion, crumbled around 10:30 a.m. on Fida Hussain Shaikha Road in the Baghdadi area, sending dust and debris across the narrow street. Death tolls varied across official sources, with some reporting five deaths and others confirming six to eight fatalities.
More than 100 rescue personnel, including teams from Sindh Rescue 1122 and Pakistan Rangers, deployed cranes and heavy machinery to the site1. "They handed me a three-month-old baby girl, she was alive," said Maya Sham, a relative of residents still trapped inside, according to Arab News2. "Right now, two of their sons and three daughters-in-law are still trapped. But we can still hear voices from inside."
Police official Arif Aziz told AFP that up to 100 people had been living in the building3. Many residents belonged to the Hindu minority community, and an estimated 40 people were inside when the structure gave way2.
"I suddenly woke up … it felt like there were tremors, like an earthquake," resident Salman Ahmed, who helped rescue two children, told Arab News2. "There was so much dust and smoke that no one could understand what had happened."
The building had been flagged as unsafe for over a decade. According to the Sindh Building Control Authority, Fotan Mansion was declared dangerous in 2012 and had received multiple evacuation notices1. "This building was declared dangerous, and a couple of notices were issued to the occupants to vacate because of its structure," Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab told Arab News1.
Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani said residents had been repeatedly warned. "Not one but many notices were given to them to evacuate the building," he told reporters at the scene, according to Dawn2. "But I can also understand the citizens' struggle."
The collapse marks the latest in a series of deadly building failures in Karachi, where authorities have identified 588 dangerous structures1. The city of over 20 million faces chronic housing shortages, forcing low-income families into dilapidated buildings that escape regular maintenance1.
"If we forcibly make them evacuate, then also a humanitarian aspect comes forward, and we have to become a target of criticism for it," Minister Ghani said2.
