KARACHI: A man was killed and four others suffered injuries when a portion of a three-storey building collapsed and the debris hit them in North Nazimabad late on Monday night, officials said on Tuesday.

They said that the victims were sitting outside shops located on the ground floor of Jan Plaza in Block K when the incident happened.

A Rescue-1122 official said that the balcony of a third-floor apartment collapsed and as a result five men, present outside a medical store, suffered injuries.

The wounded were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors declared one of them dead on arrival. He was identified as Munnan Baig, 50.

The rescuers evacuated the residents of the building safely.

The official said that the building appeared to be very old and had already developed cracks.

A team of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) visited the spot and inspected the building.

After examining the structure, the SBCA sealed shops on the ground floor and declared the building “unworthy of living”, the officials said.

Central SSP Zeeshan Shafiq Siddiqui told Dawn that the police would register a case on the complaint of the victim’s family. “We are waiting for them as they said they would come to the police station after burial,” he added.

Security guard dies by suicide

A young security guard of a hospital ended his life by shooting himself to death while talking to his friend on his cell phone in Surjani Town on Tuesday.

Police said that the guard, Sameer Ibrahim, 18, fatally shot himself near POB Eye Hospital in Sector-7-B.

West SSP Dr Hafeezur Rehman said that the teenager was the guard of the hospital. During initial probe, it had transpired that he possessed a 12-bore repeater. He was talking to his friend, Asif, on his cell phone. In the meantime, in a fit of anger, he shot himself, said the SSP while quoting a witness, Mohammed Ateeq.

DSP and SHO Surjani reached on the spot and shifted the body to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

Meanwhile, 31-year-old Mehtab Muhammad attempted suicide by shooting himself at football ground in Ali Mohammed Goth on Tuesday, Bin Qasim police said.

Another man, Abdul Hakeem, 20, tried to save him but he also suffered bullet wounds. Both the wounded men were shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2024