15 feared dead as building collapses in Onitsha
No fewer than 15 persons were feared dead and several others sustained injuries Monday in the commercial city of Onitsha when a four-storey building under construction collapsed.
The building, which was near completion along the St. Christopher’s Anglican Church by Old Cemetery Road, Onitsha, in a dramatic manner, became a rubble over alleged use of poor quality and sub -standard construction materials.
The victims were mainly labourers said to be putting finishing touches on the building.
It was gathered that late arrival of rescue team marred the survival of some of the victims that would have survived.
The ill- fated building being constructed by the Diocese of Niger to serve as class room blocks for pupils of St Christopher Primary school started caving in due to apparent use of sub standard building materials by the contractor.
However, late arrival of heavy equipment for the evacuation of the rubbles to save some of the trapped victims was attributed to the high level of casualty as sympathizers watched helplessly while those trapped inside the rubble perished.
One of the deceased whose identity was not known as at the time of filling this report was sighted as he was crushed by the rubles with his head smashed, ripping open his brain. It was gathered that the deceased was among those serving the meson men in plastering the walls of the building before the incident.
One of the teachers at St Christopher Primary school who pleaded anonymity said that before the building collapsed, primary school pupils and their Nursery counterparts were inside the collapsed building playing during recess, adding that the building came crashing few minutes the bell signaling end of the recess rang.
“This place has been where our children run into to play each time there was break, so today, as usual, these children were inside the building playing and once it was 12.30pm, we rang a bell to call them back to their classes and shortly after that, we heard a loud noise with dust flaring over the entire compound, we looked with astonishment, it was the building where our children were playing inside few minutes ago that collapsed” she said.
Another eyewitness who identified herself as Ngozi said over 15 persons were working at various sections of the building before the incident, saying that those plastering the building were four including one person that was supplying them cement and sand while those working at the ceiling of the building were up to three.
Apart from the meson men who were four in number, there were also other people working including carpenters and those doing PVC in the building, so the casualty figure is more than four the church told us.
“I was sitting here when the incident happened, that man whose hand you saw from the rubble was a man serving the meson men.
He came down from the building to the ground floor to carry a bag of cement when the building collapsed and he was crushed while others were at various locations in the collapsed building”
Meanwhile, while all efforts to evacuate the rubbles and the deceased lingered due to non availability of heavy forklift, sympathizers resorted to self help by using hands and hammer to break the concrete walls to know if they could save any of those trapped in the building, but that was after four hours of the incident.
The Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano who was alerted immediately cut short his official engagement and ordered some major contractors working in various parts of the state to mobilize their equipment to the scene.