LAHORE: Seven young men died and eight others wounded seriously when the boundary wall of a godown collapsed on them amid downpour early yesterday in Lahore.

The tragedy struck the workers of Orange-Line train project when they were sleeping in their tent houses near the Quaid-e-Azam interchange in Manawan area.

Rescue workers said that three people died on the spot while four other expired in the hospital later. The condition of two of the eight injured was said to be serious till yesterday night. The Edhi ambulance service shifted the bodies to the city morgue.

Muhammad Younis, an Edhi official, yesterday told reporters that at least eight workers were shifted to the Mayo hospital with serious wounds. No senior government official or public representative visited the hospital to inquire about the health of the injured till late yesterday night.

At least fifteen labourers, who were working on the mega Orange-Line train project for months, were sleeping in their tent houses when the boundary wall of an under construction godown collapsed on them during heavy rain and windstorm, nearby residents said.

According to the rescue workers, the incident took place shortly before 03:00am. The locals launched the search and rescue efforts at their own as the Rescue-1122 units failed to respond to the accident immediately. However, some rescue workers reached the spot later and joined the operation to pull out the victims from the debris.

Heavy rains hit the metropolis late Monday night. The met department recorded 25.4 mm rainfall in Lahore, where winds blew at a speed of 74-km per hour.

All the victims are said to be young men between the ages of 20 to 30. They had arrived in Lahore from the far-flung districts of the province to earn livelihood for the families. The poor families were notified by the police yesterday morning.

Three of the dead were the residents of Multan district while other four belonged to Uch Sharif, Mianwali, Rahim Yar Khan, and Jallalpur districts. The deceased were named by police as Zulfikar, Nadeem, Nadir, Muhammad Irfan, Maqbool, Usman, and Arshad.