Building caves in at Maliban Street

Priyanka Kurugala and Dinesh Balasooriya

Three ground floors of a three storied building in Maliban Street, Colombo 1 caved at around 5.30 a.m. yesterday.

Watcher Peter Gomes who was sleeping inside the building, managed to escape in the nick of time on hearing the sound of the building collapsing.

The owner of the building Mohomed Rihifaz said the building, completed one and half years ago, was being used to produce leather items although it has not been officially opened.

Plans were made to open the building after the Sinhala New Year, he said. Rihifaz said excavation is being carried out near the building to lay the foundation for another structure and giant machinery was being used for this purpose. "This may have had an adverse effect on his own building," he said.

Gomes said when the building started to cave, two lorries and the JCB machine used to excavate the site was promptly driven away. However, it was the view of many that inferior material may have been used in the construction of the building .