SOCIETY
BUILDING COLLAPSE DEATH TOLL RISES TO TWO
The death toll from a building collapse in Baku rises to two as a second man brought out from under the rubble dies in a hospital, health ministry said.
The high-rise building under construction on the Murtuza Mukhtarov street collapsed at about 1700 on Tuesday trapping many people, most of them workers.
Earlier, one body has been found; and other two people are now in a critical condition in hospital, emergency services said.
The country`s senior officials, including Head of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev, Deputy Prime Minister Abid Sharifov, Minister of Emergency Situations Kamaladdin Heydarov, Health Minister Ogtay Shiraliyev, Minister of Interior Ramil Usubov and Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov had rushed to the area to oversee rescue and investigation efforts.
Kamil Bagirov, a senior civil defense official at the Ministry of Emergency Situations, said “obviously the collapse occurred because of poor safety standards at the construction site”.
“One driver and three workers were brought out from under the ruins. Two of them died, and other two people were hospitalized with various injures”, Bagirov said.
He also added that some workers are believed to have managed to leave the area before the collapse.
Rescue services and police are continuing to search for more people still possibly buried under the debris.