8-storey building crashes in Deira

BY PMA RASHEED
The Gulf Today, 17 Aug 2009
Pix by Prashant Mununthan

An eight-storey commercial building located near by Ramada Hotel and City Bay on Al Hail road in Deira, collapsed on Sunday evening.
The Civil Defence teams, the police and ambulances rushed to the scene after receiving information about the building collapse.
No casualty
A project manager, who was inside the building with twenty-two workers a short time before the collapse, told The Gulf Today that the building had been evacuated as soon as people heard the vibration of the concrete blocks.
The contracting company supervising the project was about to hand it over in a few days time.
Meanwhile, an investigation into the incident will be launched by the Dubai Municipality (DM) to find out whether the construction company has committed any violation of the rules and regulations outlined by the civic body. The competent authorities are trying to discover the reasons behind the incident.
Essa Al Maidour, the DM's Assistant Director General for Planning and Building Affairs, said, "A technical committee has been formed by the DM in order to inquire into the case and check the level of violations, if any, in the building construction regulations."
"The technical committee will submit its report once it's finalised and action will be taken by the municipality accordingly," he added.
A number of cars that were parked near the building had were damaged.