Azerbaijan, Baku / Тrend corr I. Alizadeh / There is now no hope that those trapped under the ruins of the collapsed 16-storey building in Baku will still be alive, the Deputy Emergency Situations Minister, Faig Taghizadeh, said to journalists on 31 August. In his opinion, too much time has passed since the accident.
A building which was under construction by Mutaffakir company at the intersection of Nakhchivani and Mukhtarov Streets collapsed on 28 August at 17:00 hours. Initial accounts revealed that gross violation of construction rules caused its collapse. According to official reports, the death toll has reached 12 with five people injured.
According to the Deputy Minister, 20 people telephoned the 'hot line' stating that their relatives were trapped in the ruins. The rescuers managed to go down to the cellar of the collapsed building, but they did not find any people in the cellar, whether dead or alive, Taghizadeh said.