Collapsed wall kills two
Aug 20, 2011
TWO people died and two others sustained serious injuries when a perimeter wall fell on their dwelling in the city yesterday morning.
By Herbert Ssempogo
TWO people died and two others sustained serious injuries when a perimeter wall fell on their dwelling in the city yesterday morning.
The misfortune, in which Julius Kika, 18 and another man only identified as Kakande perished, occurred in Mayor Zone, Kabalagala amid a downpour. The rain is suspected to have weakened the ground on which the wall was erected.
A man, who resides a few meters from the accident scene, recollected that he heard a thud between 4am and 5am.
“I immediately dashed here and realized that the perimeter wall that had flattened three small houses,†the man stated as several residents, who gathered, pondered the deceased’s fate.
Comprising of concrete blocks with no reinforcing pillars or iron bars, the wall crushed the old, ramshackle dwellings, creating a mess of blocks, bricks and sand.
Death struck the two men as they slept in one room while the injured namely Godfrey Ssemakula and Fred Mukiibi were in another room. Another room was not occupied.
According to a woman staying in a nearby house, the deceased occupied the ill-fated houses located in a flood-prone area recently.
Following the incident, tenants in a house close to a section of the wall, which seemed on the verge of collapse, hurriedly vacated the house.
The wall seals off the back part of Tirupati Mazima, a commercial structure along Ggaba Road in Kampala. The structure will soon throw its doors open for business.
Kabalagala Police boss Francis Chemusto ordered that the remaining portion of the wall be razed immediately. Chemusto said that the site Engineer would be questioned.
Local council official Hussein Ouma attributed the problem to poor workmanship, noting that the wall was not re-enforced. Moreover, it is situated next to a huge waste water channel.
A source in Tirupati Development U Ltd, which owns the property, pledged that the company would foot all the burial expenses.
The company, he added, acquired the land near their property and has since compensated some people.
On March 29, two children aged seven and eleven died when a neighbor’s perimeter wall collapsed on their house at dawn. This was in Nakigalala, Kifene Zone near Kajjansi trading centre in Wakiso district.
The wall hit Pascal Buyingo’s house close to 4am, instantly killing Joan Asiimwe, 7 and Owen Nanfuka, 11.
TWO people died and two others sustained serious injuries when a perimeter wall fell on their dwelling in the city yesterday morning.
The misfortune, in which Julius Kika, 18 and another man only identified as Kakande perished, occurred in Mayor Zone, Kabalagala amid a downpour. The rain is suspected to have weakened the ground on which the wall was erected.
A man, who resides a few meters from the accident scene, recollected that he heard a thud between 4am and 5am.
“I immediately dashed here and realized that the perimeter wall that had flattened three small houses,†the man stated as several residents, who gathered, pondered the deceased’s fate.
Comprising of concrete blocks with no reinforcing pillars or iron bars, the wall crushed the old, ramshackle dwellings, creating a mess of blocks, bricks and sand.
Death struck the two men as they slept in one room while the injured namely Godfrey Ssemakula and Fred Mukiibi were in another room. Another room was not occupied.
According to a woman staying in a nearby house, the deceased occupied the ill-fated houses located in a flood-prone area recently.
Following the incident, tenants in a house close to a section of the wall, which seemed on the verge of collapse, hurriedly vacated the house.
The wall seals off the back part of Tirupati Mazima, a commercial structure along Ggaba Road in Kampala. The structure will soon throw its doors open for business.
Kabalagala Police boss Francis Chemusto ordered that the remaining portion of the wall be razed immediately. Chemusto said that the site Engineer would be questioned.
Local council official Hussein Ouma attributed the problem to poor workmanship, noting that the wall was not re-enforced. Moreover, it is situated next to a huge waste water channel.
A source in Tirupati Development U Ltd, which owns the property, pledged that the company would foot all the burial expenses.
The company, he added, acquired the land near their property and has since compensated some people.
On March 29, two children aged seven and eleven died when a neighbor’s perimeter wall collapsed on their house at dawn. This was in Nakigalala, Kifene Zone near Kajjansi trading centre in Wakiso district.
The wall hit Pascal Buyingo’s house close to 4am, instantly killing Joan Asiimwe, 7 and Owen Nanfuka, 11.