The death toll from the collapse of a police squad headquarters in Angola’s capital this weekend rose to 30 on Tuesday as rescuers scoured the rubble for bodies, state media said.
Another 145 people pulled out of the debris are still receiving treatment in several hospitals in Luanda.
According to the state news agency ANGOP, the rescue operation was expected to wind up within 48 hours as hopes faded of finding any more survivors and rescuers expected to retrieve more bodies.
”We will continue with rescue services and probably we’ll find a body or two. There are still families looking for their relatives,” said Eugenio Laborinho, the national commander of the Civil Protection Service.
About 180 people were believed to have been in the seven-storey building when it collapsed, 145 of them detainees being held while under investigation, Interior Minister Roberto Leal Monteiro said.
Monteiro has called for Portuguese engineering laboratories to investigate the causes of the collapse of the building, which was erected in 1974 while Portugal was the colonial power.
Past warnings from top officials in the police Criminal Investigation Department over the deteriorating state of the building went unheeded, Radio Ecclesia reported on Monday.
While the authorities have refused to comment on the cause of the disaster, the radio said that a seventh floor had been added to the original building, with a massive generator placed on the top floor.
State radio RNA quoted the fire brigade as saying that ”many more buildings” in Luanda had safety problems.
These include two towers overlooking the Cidadela National Stadium that will host the opening ceremony of the African Cup of Nations in 2010. — Sapa-AFP