7-year-old-girl dies, six injured after Masaka house collapse
This photo taken on March 31, 2023 shows debris around a home in a rental following the collapse of the house in Masaka City. PHOTO/GERTRUDE MUTYABA
What you need to know:
- This is the second fatality of a building collapse in the same zone of Mukudde in a week.
Police in Masaka are investigating circumstances under which a house collapsed on Friday morning, killing a seven-year-old girl and injuring six others.
The deceased, Mayimuna Nansamba, was a resident of Mukudde Cell, Nyendo-Mukungwe Division in Masaka city.
Yusuf Kayongo, a neighbor to the affected rentals, narrated that he heard debris falling and ran to see what had happened.
“At around 6am, it was raining so heavily when I heard something falling. I ran so fast and started rescuing people who were hit by the bricks. Unfortunately the child had already died,” Mr Kayongo said.
The building also injured 6 people including Mariam Nalwanga, Aisha Nakalema Milly Ndagire, Sharon Nabisaso, Yasin Bukenya and a three-year-old only identified as Brighton.
This is the second building to collapse in the same zone of Mukudde in this week.
On Wednesday, 25-year-old Betty Nabalongo died instantly after she was smashed by a perimeter wall of Centenary High school.
On Friday, Mukudde zone LCI chairperson Godfey Ndugwa attributed the incidents to lack of proper drainage systems.
“The rain is too much yet the water cannot move through the right direction, it always collects on the houses which continue to weaken thus causing the accidents,” Ndugwa told this reporter.
A general view of police officers making inquiries at the scene of a rental which collapsed and killed a child in Masaka City on March 31, 2023. PHOTO/GERTRUDE MUTYABA
Further, Ndugwa appealed to the leadership of the city to inspect houses so that authorities direct landlords or homeowners to rehabilitate them.
Residents who spoke to Monitor on Friday said that they have a problem with landlords who ask for monthly payment yet they do not do house maintenance.
“Our leaders should give strict guidelines to such landlords,” multiple on-scene interviewees said.
Southern Uganda police spokesperson SP Twaha Kasirye asked the tenants to thoroughly check rentals before entering them.
By press time, the youngster’s body had been taken to Masaka Regional Referral Hospital for postmortem as survivors also sought treatment in health facilities around the city.
