New death toll: 21 killed in Pakistan building collapse

 The death toll from the collapse of a five-story building in Karachi, Pakistan, rose to 21 on Saturday after rescue teams recovered more bodies.

Authorities said the building had been deemed unsafe for habitation and that eviction notices had been sent to its residents for three years, but the owners and some residents told AFP they had not received them.

Residents reported hearing cracking sounds before the apartment building collapsed shortly after 10:00 a.m. on Friday in the Lyari slum of Karachi, which has long been plagued by gang violence and is considered one of the most dangerous areas in Pakistan.

The death toll rose to 21 on Saturday evening, said senior local government official Jawad Nabi Khoso, adding that search and rescue operations were continuing.

"My daughter is under the rubble... She is my beloved, she was very sensitive, but now she is under the weight of the rubble. She was married only six months ago," Dev Raj told AFP at the site.

Earlier on Saturday, families said at least eight people were trapped under the rubble, with temperatures reaching 33 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday morning. Javed Nabi Khoso said that notices were delivered to residents for 2022, 2023, and 2024.

He told AFP, "We don't want to impose our orders forcefully. We are working in stages and sending them notices to leave the building. They didn't take the notices seriously."

However, Imran Khaskhili, a landlord and resident who was monitoring the rescue operation on Saturday, denied receiving any notices.

"Do you think we've lost our minds to stay in an unsafe building with our families?" he said.

He confirmed to AFP that he saw cracks in the building's pillars on Friday morning.

"I knocked on all the doors and asked the families to leave immediately," he said, adding that about 40 families were living in the building, but many did not heed his warnings.

Khoso said that more than 50 buildings in the area are considered unsafe, and six of them have been evacuated since Friday.

Abid Jalaluddin Sheikh, head of the government rescue agency at the site, told AFP that the rescue operation was expected to continue until Saturday evening.

All six members of 70-year-old Jhumho Maheshwari's family were in his first-floor apartment when he left for work Friday morning.

"I have nothing left now. My entire family is trapped. All I can do is pray that they are rescued," he told AFP.

Maya Sham Ji, a resident of the area, said her brother's family was also trapped under the rubble.

"It's a tragedy for us," she told AFP. "The world has changed for our family... We feel helpless. All we can do is follow the rescuers so they can bring our people back safely."