Construction Workers Escape Death as Three-Storey Building Collapse in Rivers
Felix Barikui – Port Harcourt
At least seven people have been rescued from a collapsed three-story building under construction at Aboga, along the Igwuruta-Etche road in the Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State.
This collapse brought the number of building collapses in the state to four within three months. Eyewitnesses said the incident occurred around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday while construction work was underway.
They said though no life was lost, seven out of nine workers who were working in the building were rescued with various degrees of injuries.
One of the eyewitnesses said, “Getting here, I saw the building collapsing; while some of the workers were able to jump out, others could not as the building collapsed on them.”
“Everybody was rescued alive with injuries; the last person was rescued towards the night with serious injuries. He was rushed to the Hospital in an Ambulance.”
Another eyewitness said “I heard a loud sound while I was in the house, when I rushed out I saw the building collapsing, some persons from this area and passersby started using axe to break through the debris to rescue the victims before the Government and Police came to join the rescue effort”.
The rescue was made possible by the joint effort of people from the neighborhood, the authority of Ikwerre Local Government Area, and officials of the Rivers State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development as well as the Ministry of Special Duties, who deployed Excavators, Fire Trucks, and Ambulances to ensure the timely rescue of the victims, some of whom were trapped under the rubble.
The state Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Evans Bipi, spoke to newsmen at the scene of the incident and said it is unfortunate to begin the year with a building collapse.
He attributed the incident to the developer’s use of substandard materials.
“It is unfortunate that we are beginning the year with this tragic incident, though no life was lost. This is the 4th building collapse we are witnessing in the State since I assumed office.” Preliminary investigation at the scene of the incident shows that the building may have collapsed due to the use of substandard materials by the builder”.
“Specifically, using 12mm rods for decking a building clearly violates construction standards. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident, as similar cases of building collapse in the State have been linked to the same cause – the use of inferior materials.”
Bipi also accused the developer of building without a government-approved building plan.
He said the Ministry has sealed the property pending an investigation into the cause of the building collapse and has asked the property owner to report to the Ministry for investigation.
“As a government we are not happy with the repeated causes of building collapse in the State that have claimed life, injured several persons and caused avoidable damages and losses to developers in the State”.
“Let me warn that we will no longer condone a situation in which some builders continue to violate the building code, including building without a government-approved building plan and compromising safety standards by using substandard materials in a bid to save costs.”
