Rescuers searching for hundred
people stuck in the rubble of a distorted factory worked through the night into
Thursday in a bid to find people stuck in a disaster that has already claimed
18 lives.
As the
sun came up over Lahore, soldiers and police groped through the wreckage of the
building, which came crashing down less than two weeks after a 7.5 magnitude
earthquake rocked the region.
The
factory may have suffered structural damage in the October 26 quake, which
killed almost 400 people across Pakistan and Afghanistan, Punjab chief minister
Shahbaz Sharif said.
"I
have heard about the earthquake affecting the building, but according to
labourers the owner continued to build an extension," he told reporters.
Abdul
Razzaq, a rescue official at the scene, told AFP they were racing against time
to get to people still believed alive.
"The
operation will take time and our aim is to reach the areas of the rubble where
we are still hearing voices of crying and help," he said.
At
least 97 people had been pulled out alive, including 51 taken to hospital.
The
army said it was deploying specialist search teams and engineers to help the
rescue effort.
The
collapse occurred at the four-storey Rajput Polyester polythene bag factory in
the Sundar industrial estate, around 45 kilometres (30 miles) southwest of
Lahore s city centre.
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