Two people have been seriously injured after a building they were operating in collapsed in Wabigalo near Mityana town this afternoon.
The incident occurred at around 1pm when Sam Kawuki’s building in Wabigalo trading center, a Mityana suburb, that was under construction collapsed injuring three people. The building was the business premise for four traders accommodated with six residential rooms for rent at the back.
The injured were traders, operating retail shops at the front.
Although one person received minor injuries and was discharged after first aid treatment at a nearby clinic, two others were not so lucky. The traders had to be rushed to St Francis Hospital for treatment as their injuries are more serious. They are Steven Nyanzi, who runs a motor cycle spare shop, and Joseph Mwanje, a mechanic.
Nyanzi was later transferred to Mityana main government hospital, as his conditions were not improving.
By press time, police had not yet reached the scene but when contacted, the regional police commander for West Buganda Phillip Mukasa said detectives had been deployed to go and investigate the matter.
Some of the area residents blamed the collapse of the building on the use of sub-standard construction material by the contractors.
Other residents laid the blame for the collapse on the heavy vehicles used by Dott Services Company during the construction of the Mityana-Kampala road. They claimed that the heavy trucks caused cracks in the walls of the houses and they expect more buildings to collapse soon.
Elvis Mwanje, one of the local leaders in Wabigalo, said many of the land lords had been compensated for the damage done to their buildings by the road construction but that many had neither broken them down or done sufficient reinforcement repair.
Sam Kawuki, the owner of the building, was not at the scene by the time the incident occurred.
