About 40 workers are said to have been trapped in an ongoing
construction of an eight-story building that collapsed at Yardua drive
in Owerri, Imo, on Thursday.
Vanguard was at the scene of the
collapsed building where excavation of those of the trapped workers are
still in the process at about 7:01 pm.
At the time of filing this
report, about ten were said to have been rescued and seven severely
injured and taken to hospital just as they said, for now, two feared
death.
Many issues were raised by some of the survivors, which
could have led to the building collapse. One said the pillars were very
weak, adding that the pillars holding the eight-story building were not
also enough to carry the weight of the entire structure.
They
also said that a few days ago they noticed cracks in some parts of the
building and complained to the engineer who assured them he would do
something about it.
However, members of the Red Cross were seen
at the scene assisting in the evacuation of both the death, moving some
to hospitals for immediate medical attention.
Spirited
individuals moved in as Vanguard noticed that some of them are aware of
the locations of those trapped as they assisted in the rescue operation.
At
the time of filing this report, one of the survivors, who introduced
his name as Prosper, said that at the moment they were nine in number
that have survived. Five have been taken to the hospital who sustained
various degrees of injuries.
According to Prosper, “I was very
close to the building when I heard a crack around the pillars and I
started running and before you know it it is like a sound of a bomb. The
story building fell down.
“We are working in different
departments I can’t count the actual number. We are many. We may be up
to 40 in number. They have taken five people to the hospital. They were
badly injured.”
Another survivor, who goes with the name Ike, “We
are up to 20 in number, we have those mixing cement. We have those
pouring cement. There are plenty of people. We pray that God will help
them come out alive.”
