SUKKUR: Fifteen people were seriously injured when a five-storey building, weakened by recent torrential rains and heavy nooding, collapsed in Pir Jo Goth, Khairpur district, on Monday. The victims, including women and children, were retrieved from under the rubble by area people with the help of police personnel.

The building, built about eight months ago, housed 15 Hindu f amilies.

The injured were rushed to the Kingri Taluka Hospital for treatment.

According to residents of the neighbourhood, the building had suffered considerable damage during back-to-back downpours last week and its foundations were badly af fected by several feet high water that had remained accumulated in the locality for many days.

According to the police, the first and second floors of the building crumbled first, and a little later the entire structure came down with a big bang.

Khairpur SSP Zaffar Iqbal Malik and officials of the police and district administration along with rescue teams rushed to the spot, where Mukhi Gurmukh Das was already present, to supervise the rescue work.