Story highlights
NEW: The confirmed death toll rises to 23, a local official says
Construction work was being done on the fourth story of the Lahore building, an official said
Rescue workers say that about 150 people were in the building when it collapsed
A four-story building collapsed Wednesday in the northwestern Pakistani city of Lahore, killing at least 23 people and wounding 80 others, a local official said.
The official, Muhammad Usman, said that local hospitals were treating the injured.
The collapse happened in an industrial area of Lahore in a building that was undergoing construction on its fourth floor, said Salman Rafique, a health adviser in Punjab province.
Rescue workers told CNN that more than 150 people were working in the structure, where plastic bags were manufactured, when it fell apart. Those workers said that about 100 people were at one point buried in the rubble.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed grief after the collapse and directed the Punjab provincial government to beef up its rescue efforts.
Deadly building collapses are not unprecedented in South Asia, with some of the worst coming in Bangladesh.
At least 15 people, most of them women, died when a veterinary medicine factory collapsed in 2012 in Lahore, according to a police official there.
CNN’s Sophia Saifi reported from Karachi, journalist Adeel Raja reported from Islamabad, and CNN’s Greg Botelho wrote this report from Atlanta.