{{As the official death toll of the disaster caused by a high-rise building that collapsed in Dar es Salaam rose to at least 22 by late Friday, experts have warned that similar incidents are looming due to serious compromises of construction standards.}}
The major finger of blame is being pointed at the government, for disregarding recommendations by a special committee appointed by former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa, one of which was assessment of all major buildings in Dar es Salaam.
Anger also stems from the fact that, no serious action has been taken against those who were responsible for previous similar disasters, which they feel has given confidence to crooks in the construction industry to act criminally.
Earlier reports suggested that 60 people were trapped under rubbles at the site of the latest disaster and hopes of finding survivors were fading as the rescue operation got into the second day.
Of the 17 injured persons, 10 are still hospitalised while the rest had been treated and discharged.
The rescue operation was yesterday more focused that had earlier been the case, and gained pace after a Chinese engineering firm, China Railway Construction Engineering Group (CRJE), joined Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) for the mission.
Other firms that took part in search and rescue operations were Tanzania Road Haulage and Strabag, a German construction company undertaking the Dar Rapid Transit project.
Many people also lent support to the rescue operation yesterday.
However, Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner (RC) Sadick Meck Sadick said the authorities were still facing the challenge of ensuring that all recovered bodies were in good shape.
“These are human beings. They deserve proper burial; that’s why every time we see the possibility of finding a body, we don’t use bulldozers. Manual work takes time but we can’t ignore the sensitivity surrounding the issue,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the RC has ordered that construction work on a building opposite the ill-fated one, by the same contractor, be stopped immediately.
President Jakaya Kikwete visited the scene of the tragedy for the second day yesterday, and ordered the arrest of City Council’s Construction Engineer, Quantity Surveyor and Architecture.
“Letting the construction work reaching this stage means they were coming here to inspect this building,” the visibly upset President said.
The Shia Ithnasheri community which owns a mosque adjacent to the ill-fated building provided food to rescue team members, as well as relatives of those believed to be still trapped, who camped at the site.
Overcome by emotion, a mother of a missing boy who had been playing in the compound, collapsed after crying uncontrollably for a long time.
Yesterday, two people being sought by the police force surrendered to the law enforcers, raising the number of those being held for questioning to six.
The owner of Lucky Construction LTD, the main contractor of the ill-fated building, Ibrahim Kissoky ,59, who is also a Counselor for Bunju ward, gave himself in at 01:00 pm at the Central police station.
Kissoky was on the run from Monday and was given a 12-hour from yesterday morning to surrender to the police.
The Consulting Engineer of the building, Zonazea Bushudada, also surrendered at the Central police station at around 01:30 pm.
Police have also arrested the owner of the building MS Ladha and three others. Ilala Municipal officials were arrested on Friday, including the Chief Engineer, Quantity Surveyor and Construction Engineer.
Chairman of the opposition party Civic United Front (CUF) Prof. Ibrahim Lipumba visited the site and urged the government to invest on disaster management strategies and infrastructure.
According to Lipumba, the rescue proficiency is still poor and was the cause of otherwise avoidable deaths and injuries.
“The quality of construction too is very poor; how was this project given the green-light in the first place? This whole situation is alarming,” he remarked.
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