Four-story church extension collapses in Uganda, and officials say it never had approved plans

Police identified the dead worker as Francis Lukwago and said 25 men were pulled alive from the rubble, the Daily Monitor reported. A police officer told the Uganda Radio Network that church management had given rescuers a list of 40 people working on the site. The extension belongs to Holy City Church, the ministry of preacher Ronnie Makabai, and had reached its fourth floor when it fell.

Katabi Town Council Mayor Frank Kajjura said the council had never cleared the building. He said the town engineer had never been to the site, and a council official who tried to inspect it was refused entry. The site engineer and foreman have disappeared since the collapse, according to Kajjura. A town council official told New Vision that soldiers guarding the premises had repeatedly blocked inspections.

The National Building Review Board sent investigators, who are collecting cement, steel and concrete to test their strength in a lab and checking whether the project had a permit, spokesperson Herbert Ziwa said. Building without an approved plan carries a fine of 40,000 Ugandan shillings per square meter, and owners and professionals such as engineers are both liable, the board told New Vision. The cause has not been established.

The collapse came two weeks after an unfinished building in Kampala's Ntinda area fell and killed a woman, UBC reported. On Oct. 28, Ugandan real estate and contractor associations called for inspectors to be held personally liable when they skip their checks.