At least 13 people, including seven children, died as a rockslide hit shanties erected in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar area early Tuesday, rescue sources said.
Rescue teams reached the site of the incident and recovered the bodies of three women, three men and seven children from beneath the rubble.
Rangers and police arrived at the scene and participated in the rescue operation.
Heavy machinery was called to help clear the area as the rocks hit shacks built on a plot in Gulistan-i-Jauhar’s Block 1 area.
Area residents said two families comprising 13 people lived in the huts hit by the rockslide.
Commissioner Karachi Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leaders Faisal Sabzwari and Muhammad Hussain visited the site and inquired about the rescue operation.
Speaking to the press, Shoaib Siddiqui said that the administration was trying to rescue the survivors, if any.
He said heavy machinery had been engaged to clear the rubble but that no time frame could be provided to complete the rescue operation.
The recovered bodies have been shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) for legal formalities.
