Twenty People confirmed dead from the collapsed Building in Dar-es-salaam. Country moves on with bodies still trapped in debris
Five days after the tragic incident of a commercial building collapsing on people in Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania announces that 20 people have been killed from the incident.
Many have already been officially buried but a number of relatives say there are other people still under the rubles and nobody cares.
Until early hours of Sunday, the 17th of November 2024 the day after the incident the number of people confirmed dead from the incident of collapsed building in Dar-es-salaam had reached five, as per officials claims.
But hundred others were still trapped in the rubles.
People trapped in the debris of the collapsed building in the busy Kariakoo shopping zone were by that time sending short text messages from their phones pleading for help, but a few hours later the communications stopped, indicating that they could have run out of charge, or fainted or dead.
The commercial building standing four-floors high and which was located at the intersection of Congo and Mchikichini Streets in the busy Kariakoo location in the Ilala District of Dar-es-Salaam collapsed on Saturday.
As fate will have it, Saturdays are usually the busiest days in Kariakoo when all residents of the city, taking advantage of weekends’ time off, flock into the area to shop for groceries and other stuff.
A message from Johnson Evans, one of the trapped victims, lamented that it was “His last day alive on earth,” because there were many people beneath the building wreckage with oxygen running short.
“There are five people who have already fainted, we tried our level best but to no avail,” wrote Evans, concluding in a ‘giving up note,’ that they have decided to let fate take over the situation.
The Police and other city authorities have very little to say regarding what is being done to ensure that trapped people get out in time.
Tanzania forces don’t have the reputation of being effective in rescue services which means the survival of the victims beneath the rubble should be left to luck other than efforts.
In fact, the army later had to intervene after the Ilala District official failed to do anything.
However several other people who got injured when the building collapsed were rushed to the National Muhimbili Hospital for treatment.
The number of victims who are trapped under the debris is yet to be known.
The cause of the accident is also a mystery. The building was reportedly constructed sometime back in the early 70s, in fact some say 1971.
In Kariakoo, just like many parts of Tanzania, there are no fire escape alleys between storey buildings as these important safety routes have all been sealed to create shops sandwiched between structures.
Streets in Kariakoo are also very narrow and usually congested making it even more difficult for rescue teams or vehicles to reach such scenes of accidents in time.