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| Building collapses in Dar es Salaam |
The building crumbled at around 8:15 yesterday morning was situated on plot Number 1662/75 Indira-Gandhi Street under the main contractor identified as Lucky Construction Limited.
The clients are National Housing Corporation (NHC) and M/S Aliraza Investment Limited, while the structural engineer is SOU consult. Huge crane and bulldozers were seen pulling out a mass of iron bars while some people used bare hands to pull away fallen masonry to get access to the centre of the building, where some people were thought to be trapped alive.
The trapped victims were said to have been making phone calls to friends and relatives. The collapsed building which was near a mosque, as well as other residential and commercial properties was day long crowded by onlookers, as well as rescue workers and armed police officers.
The owner of the building, Mr Ally Raza was later in the evening arrested by police for questioning. President Jakaya Kikwete and his wife also visited the area yesterday afternoon to see the extent of the damage following the collapse of the building that has created international headlines.
Mr Kikwete has directed Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, Sadik Meck Sadicki and Dar es Salaam Mr Kova to immediately ensure that serious legal actions are imposed against the crumpled building contractor.
He also directed measures against the consulting engineer, building owner and Regional contractor over incompetence, carelessness and unprofessionalism. He wanted construction authorities and experts to intervene the incident by tracing where the weakness had occurred.
President Kikwete also mourned the deaths that occurred while wishing all the casualties quick recovery. Three municipal officials; chief contractor, engineer and quality control officer were also held for questioning over the incident. The building contractor went missing.
Dar es Salaam special zone police commander, Suleiman Kova, was among city officials who visited the scene of accident in which three people have been confirmed to have lost lives, while 17 others sustained serious injuries. The death toll was likely to increase as eyewitnesses and neighbours affirmed that there were more than 30 people in the building who have not been recovered.
Mr Kova said police were intensively looking for the building contractor who would help to tell exact number of people who were inside the building. Eyewitnesses said many people were feared to have died because there were several women food vendors and children who were playing around the building.
Nurdin Abdallah Zakh who cheated death narrated that he just passed around the building and in less than a minute he heard something that hit like a landslide before noting that it was the collapsing building.
“I saw a number of young boys around, women vendors and other people were on the 15th floor uplifting building materials. I don’t think if all of them survived,” Mr Zakh narrated. Kumeil Kermali, a man who lives few metres from the collapsed building said that all neighbours knew that one day the structure would collapse because of the speed in which the construction work was going and the building materials used were of poor quality.
“Building materials were extremely poor. Sand and cement ratio did not match but what left us dumfounded is the speed of construction, this raised concerns over standards,” he said, adding that building over 10 storeys within six months was unusual in Tanzania.
NCCR-Mageuzi national chairman, Mr James Mbatia, who also visited the scene of the accident, said that disaster management skills amongst Tanzanians was appalling and that is why even rescuing operation took time.
Mr Mbatia cautioned the misguided mentality amongst the people of blaming the government especially during disasters, saying that joint efforts to address the problem was all what authorities needed for lasting solution. CCM Deputy Secretary General for Tanzania Mainland, Mr Mwigulu Nchemba bitterly spoke over the incident, proposing stern legal measures against all players for negligence, incompetency and unprofessionalism.
Ilala legislator on the ruling CCM ticket, Mr Mussa Zungu was in the morning heard blaming the government’s delay in bringing in military and rescuing officers to ease the operation. However, later on military officers flocked the area and fully participated in the rescue exercise.
Mr Sadicki said a detailed report over the incident would be released later after police have completed their task of questioning the arrested municipal officers.
By CHRISTOPHER MAJALIWA, Tanzania Daily News
