At least eight women were killed and over 50 injured when a shop roof collapsed in an eastern Pakistani village on Monday, as they gathered for government welfare payments, police and rescue officials said.
Rescuer Ashiq Mahmood explained the roof gave way under the crowd’s weight after the shopkeeper directed some of the more than 100 women onto it, while others remained inside.
The women in Rahim Yar Khan, Punjab province, had assembled to collect financial assistance ahead of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan.
The Benazir Income Support Program, named after former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in a 2007 gun and bomb attack, provides cash assistance to millions of low-income families, many of them women. Under the program, eligible families receive 13,000 rupees (about $45) in quarterly payments.
Crowding and stampedes sometimes occur in Pakistan during Ramadan, when government agencies, charities and businesses distribute food and cash to poor families.
In 2023, at least 11 women and children were killed in a stampede at a Ramadan food and cash distribution center in Karachi, after hundreds of people rushed to collect aid outside a factory.
In February, 16 people died after a powerful gas explosion tore through a residential building in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, causing part of the structure to collapse on Thursday.
Women and children were among those killed and several others were injured in the blast, emergency crews said.
The explosion happened when people were preparing a pre-dawn meal on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in a residential area of Karachi, the capital of Sindh province, local police chief Rizwan Patel said. Rescuers were still removing rubble to search for any survivors trapped under the debris, he added.
Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari expressed sorrow and condolences to the victims’ families and directed authorities to ensure the best possible treatment for the injured. He also called for a swift completion of rescue operations and urged the Sindh provincial government to enforce building codes, check gas cylinder safety and conduct a thorough inquiry to help prevent similar incidents.
