Tragedy struck in Onitsha on Monday when a four-storey building collapsed killing four people including the building engineer.
About 15 other people were also trapped in the collapsed building.
The incident was said to have occurred at about 1.00 p.m. at the St. Christopher’s Anglican Church premises, along old cemetery road, Odoakpu area of Onitsha.
According to a source, the uncompleted building was at the finishing stage as the victims were said to be doing plastering work when it suddenly caved in from the foundation level.
However, there was a sigh of relief as over 1,000 primary school pupils in the church premises who were playing around the building had just ended their break session before its collapse.
It was gathered that four hours after the collapse of the building, no rescue team was on hand making the victims to give up the ghost before members of the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) and other voluntary agencies and individuals came to their rescue.
Church officials were said to be on the run as they were nowhere to be found while the Onitsha South Local Government authority was blamed for its inability to provide excavators or crane for the evacuation of the remnants of the collapsed building to help dig out the victims, either dead or alive.
In her reaction, the Onitsha South Council Chairman, Ann Chukwuneke, attributed the collapse to inferior materials used to construct the building and poor supervision, adding that Anambra Urban Development Board (ASUDEB) should as a matter of necessity, hand over approved plans of building projects to the council engineer who would be supervising the projects.
Also reacting, the council engineer, Mr. Oluchukwu John and the liaison officer, Emeka Okafor corroborated the chairman’s position that it collapsed due to substandard materials.
Meanwhile the NRCS, Police, SSS, Civil Defence Corps and local government officials were still seen battling to rescue the trapped dead workers late in the evening with the assistance of sympathizers.
No comments:
Post a Comment