Two people have been confirmed dead after a four-storey building collapsed in Abuja, trapping at least eight people on Monday.
Rescue
workers on Tuesday recovered two bodies from the debris of the
structure at Gwarinpa, Abuja. Six people had earlier been rescued.
The
first body was lifted from under the rubble at about past 2PM, while
the second was removed at 6:15PM. The first victim was identified as
Sadiq, and the second, Joseph.
The rescue and recovery were
carried out by a joint team of officials from the National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA), Abuja Development Control, Federal Fire
Service,
and Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC).
A NEMA official, Abbas Idris, confirmed that six persons were rescued. “We are able to rescue six
persons
from the building alive. Their condition was not so bad. Some of them
were here with us before we took them to hospital,” he said.
A survivor, Timothy Ortega, told PREMIUM TIMES how he survived the the collapse
of the four-storey building.
“I
was sleeping in the second floor of the building when I heard the sound
not too long before I went to bed at about 11-11:30 pm on Sunday.
“At
first I thought it was a bomb before I could realize anything I heard
crack sound again and the entire building went down with the whole eight
of us sleeping in different rooms.
“Sleeping next to me was my cousin Joseph; we were both displaced when
the
building collapsed,” Mr.Timothy said. “God saved him from the tragedy.
He was sheltered by two beams that created a relief over-lay that
prevented the concrete from crushing him to death.
“Everything went
black when the building collapsed and I could not move. The only thing I
did was digging the sand with my two hands looking for a way out but
all effort could not direct
me to any exit point.
“I was in between the building for 14 hours until the rescue team found me at about 3 pm Monday afternoon,” Mr.Timothy said.