By Dawan Africa - Reporter
Mogadishu(Mogadishu24)-A mother and her daughter were killed, while a 14-year-old girl remains missing after an eight-story building under construction collapsed in Mogadishu's Howlwadag district on Wednesday night.
Witnesses reported that the building collapsed onto a four-story building that was also under construction, causing it to further fall onto the house of the affected family.
Benadir region’s emergency team has confirmed that they have recovered the bodies of two people – a mother and her daughter – who died when their house was struck by the collapsed building.
The emergency team is also searching for a 14-year-old girl who is still missing, and have rescued two other people alive.
“The tragic incident occurred when the eight-story building, which was under construction, collapsed onto a four-story building, which also fell onto the residential house of the victims. A mother and her daughter died, and we are still searching for the 14-year-old girl. We have successfully rescued two people from the house,” said a member of the emergency team.
The emergency team has directed the blame to the engineer who was contracted for the construction of the collapsed building, stating that it failed to meet the required standards for habitation.
“The cause of this problem is the engineer who was contracted to oversee the construction of this building. It seems the engineer made mistakes and did not adhere to the necessary standards for buildings within the city,” the team member added.
The security guard who was assigned to the four-story building was injured in the incident. He witnessed the tragic event unfold before his eyes.
“I was sleeping between the building and the house that was destroyed. I suddenly heard a loud noise like a falling stone, and I had no choice but to run for my safety and witness the building collapsing onto the house,” he recounted.
On May 6th 2023, four children died after an old building next to their residence, where they were sleeping, collapsed in Mogadishu’s Shangani district overnight
Residents have expressed grave concerns about the increasing construction of tall buildings in the city, often with engineers not abiding by the government regulations.
There has been a rising number such incidents in the city over the past few years, with residents claiming that the lack of established standards and regulations by the government, along with greed engineers, have led to the construction of buildings which are unfit for habitation.
