Many Injured As Four-Storey Building Collapses In Abuja

A four storey building under construction on Friday collapsed in Utako area of Abuja.

It was gathered that the affected building has been abandoned for several years before the owner mobilized workers to the site to continue building.

Emergency workers are battling to rescue some of the survivors in the building.

The spokesperson of the National Emergency Management Agency has confirmed the incident. Yushau Shuaib said in a statement that locals around the site of the incident helped in rescuing three people who were trapped in the rubble.

Mr Shuaib, who said the injured victims had been taken to hospital, did not however say if more people are still trapped in the rubble.

Contacted via telephone, the NEMA spokesperson said his agency had moved equipment to the site to determine whether there are people still trapped in the rubble.

The collapsed building is a one storey building one under construction behind the Apo mechanic village.

Three persons were trapped when it collapsed. While officials of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) claim they carried out the rescue exercise and took the victims to a hospital, eye witnesses at the site said they carried out the rescue even before the officials arrived.

There is confusion at the site with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Civil Defence Corps saying they are waiting for excavators to arrive for rescue work to continue; while the crowd is insisting that bare hands can be used before the arrival of the excavators.

The arrival of the head of the Igbo community did little to pacify the people in the area, made up mostly of Igbo men who own shops around there.

A NEMA official who asked not to be named said: “this building collapsed because building codes are not implemented in Abuja. Clearly the use of substandard material is responsible for today’s collapse and that is because engineers cut corners by colluding with government officials”.

He also said that apart from the building that collapsed today more buildings in the area, including those being inhabited by people, are likely to collapse due to the weak nature of the structures.

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