Building At Wameo Baubau Market Collapses Over 2 People And Vehicles

The Wameo Market building in Baubau City collapsed causing two victims and a number of two- and four-wheeled vehicles to be crushed by the rubble of the building. BETWEEN ANTARA/Yusran

A building resembling an overpass located at Wameo Market, Baubau City, Southeast Sulawesi (Sultra) collapsed.

The building, which was founded in 2011, collapsed and resulted in two victims and hit nine vehicles consisting of 2 four-wheeled and 7-wheeled vehicles.

In the evacuation process, officers from BPBD, Damkar, Basarnas, Satpol PP together with the police and TNI struggled to evacuate using heavy equipment and several trucks to transport the debris.

It appears that hundreds of residents and traders at Wameo Market witnessed closely the evacuation process which was also witnessed by Acting Mayor Baubau Muh Rasman Manafi and a number of OPD Heads of Baubau City Government.

According to one local resident, the building with the words "Lafaz Allah" when viewed from the air is a series of buildings with the Islamic Center building located nearby.

Some time ago at the location of the building a banner was put up in the form of an appeal to strictly prohibit activities in the hallway area of the building.

Meanwhile, the Acting Mayor of Baubau, Muh Rasman Manafi, said that the building in Wameo Market is an asset of the Regional Infrastructure and Settlement Center of the Ministry of PUPR.

The assets have not been handed over to the Baubau City Government so that they cannot be handled by his party.

"So we have written to the asset owner because this is not our asset, we wrote it to be repaired immediately, handled because if this collapses it will be dangerous for the community," he said.

To anticipate the collapse of the building, he said, an appeal had been placed so as not to move in the building area because it was considered risky.

"Almost every day parking managers and market managers keep reminding them, and this is what happened. And I think this is our hope from the Ministry of Public Works to immediately fix this as we sent our letter some time ago," he said.