A 35-year-old visually impaired man died after falling into a Nazimabad pit at an under-construction building in Karachi on Saturday morning.
The man, Hassan, son of Hameeduddin, was a Hafiz-e-Quran. He had left home to buy breakfast when he fell into the excavation, The Express Tribune reported.
What happened at the Nazimabad pit
Hassan fell into the pit at the building site and was pierced by an exposed steel reinforcement bar inside the excavation, the report said. The bar caused injuries that killed him.
His father said Hassan had married two months ago and worked in the computer field. He had stepped out on Saturday morning for breakfast, a routine trip that ended at an open pit with no fence around it.
The father alleged that no safety barriers had been installed around the excavation site. He demanded justice from the authorities.
The report does not say whether police have registered a case or whether the builder or the site owner has responded. Those facts were not in the published account, and this report does not add them.
What the safety rules require
The father’s allegation goes to the heart of construction safety in Karachi. Under Chapter 8 of the Karachi Building and Town Planning Regulations 2002, amended in 2012, construction sites must follow mandatory safety measures. Excavations must be fenced to a height of at least four feet, with satisfactory barriers so they do not endanger the public. Building material, scaffolding and excavation must be clearly visible, including red flags or reflectorised material during the daytime. No pit or ditch may be left empty beyond the validity of the construction period.
The Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) is the body that enforces these rules in the province. Its officials have said a plot can be sealed when the rules are broken.
Those rules exist for exactly this kind of danger. A deep excavation beside a street is a hazard for anyone passing by, and far more so for a blind pedestrian who cannot see an unmarked edge or a gap in a fence.
A pattern of site accidents in Karachi
Hassan’s death is not an isolated incident. It follows a run of construction accidents in the city in recent weeks, each of which raised the same questions about safety and oversight.
On Thursday, November 5, a portion of a two-storey building collapsed near the New Nazimabad Flyover on Manghopir Road, killing one man and injuring two others. Feature Pakistan reported that collapse, after which Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah sought a report from the SBCA on the cause and any negligence.
On October 1, part of an under-construction bridge for the Bus Rapid Transit project collapsed near Bait-ul-Mukarram Mosque in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, killing a security guard. Days later, the SBCA gave an under-construction building in Civil Lines three days to fix safety violations after residents complained about falling debris. Building safety has stayed in the news for another reason too: a firefighter from the Gul Plaza fire was honoured for bravery, a reminder of what happens when buildings fail.
Each case ended with an official notice or an inquiry. The question residents keep asking is whether those steps change how sites are run before the next accident, not after it.
What happens next
The authorities have not yet said publicly what action, if any, will follow Hassan’s death. His father’s demand for justice puts the focus on the site itself: who owned it, who was building there, and whether the excavation met the fencing and marking rules.
For now, the facts are simple and grim. A young man who could not see the danger walked out for breakfast on Saturday morning and fell into an open pit. His family wants to know why the pit was left open to the street.
Karachi’s building rules already answer that question in principle. Excavations must be fenced and marked. The test is whether anyone checks before a tragedy forces the issue. Karachi’s civic problems run wider than one site, and the province is drawing up master plans for 31 cities, including Karachi. Plans and rules only protect people when they are enforced on the ground, at sites like the one in Nazimabad No. 3.
Frequently asked questions
Who was the victim?
Hassan, a 35-year-old visually impaired Hafiz-e-Quran from Nazimabad No. 3, who worked in the computer field and had married two months ago.
How did the accident happen?
He left home on Saturday morning to buy breakfast and fell into a deep pit at an under-construction building, where an exposed steel reinforcement bar pierced him.
What did his father allege?
He alleged that no safety barriers had been installed around the excavation site, and he demanded justice from the authorities.
What do Karachi’s building rules say about excavations?
Chapter 8 of the Karachi Building and Town Planning Regulations requires excavations to be fenced at least four feet high, clearly marked, and not left open beyond the construction period. The SBCA enforces the rules and can seal a site for violations.
