Six dead in city building collapse

Six people were killed after a building under construction in Kisenyi caved in. The identity of the victims was still unknown by press time.

Mr Salim Uhuru, the chairman of the Central Division, said the six bodies retrieved from the rubble were taken to the city mortuary in Kampala for identification and postmortem.

“The building collapsed at around 2pm when some of the workers were on the lower floors and other people were standing in the parking yard. Five bodies have been recovered and taken to the mortuary,” Mr Uhuru said yesterday at the scene.

By press time, excavators were still digging into the rubble in search of victims. 

Rescue workers hoped there was life held under the rubble of the building after 7 people- including 2 minors were rescued by 11pm Sunday. 

Eyewitnesses said they didn’t expect to find many people underneath the debris because the part of the building that collapsed first wobbled, giving time to some workers to flee.

“I saw the tower, which was under construction, shaking. Then workers ran from it and jumped to a nearby tower. Before all workers could leave the weak tower, it collapsed. Those who were at the top didn’t die, but were covered by dust,” Mr Umar Mukasa, one of the witnesses, said.

The building collapsed on three trucks, flattening them in the process.

Another witness said one boda boda rider nicknamed Mutoro survived barely after picking a passenger seconds before the building collapsed.

“He was so happy to have survived and told us that he wound up the day’s work and said he was going to drink his waragi (a gin) to celebrate surviving death,” he said.

People in the neighbourhood said the death toll would have been higher if the incident happened on a working day because there are hundreds who set up their businesses near the fence. of the building. 

Previous incidents

Incidents of building collapsing are on the rise in Kampala Metropolitan Area. Only two months ago, a building collapsed and buried its owner in Nansana Municipality.  In May last year, another structure under construction in Kansanga, Makindye Division, collapsed and killed nearly a dozen people. 

Some survivors were remarkably pulled out of the rubble two days after the incident. The engineers and owner are currently on trial for negligence. The number of structures collapsing had reduced after heavy penalties were brought in for errant parties. Incidents have, however, shot up exponentially this year.