No fewer than four persons were reported dead, following the collapse of a three-storey building at Road 7 in the Agbama Housing Estate at Umuahia in Abia.
The building, which was under construction, was inhabited by some households including some construction workers.
One of the construction workers who spoke on condition of anonymity said that they noticed some cracks on the building two days ago.
“We decided to reinforce the building to avoid its collapse but our efforts turned to nothing,” he said.
The source who witnessed the collapse of the building said “we even worked on the building yesterday”.
A member of the Red Cross Society who also spoke on condition of anonymity said that three corpses were recovered, while three other victims were in critical condition.
He said that the victims were taken to the Intensive Care Unit of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia.
“Rescue operation is still going on but we have discovered three corpses while three others are in critical condition,” he said.
An eye-witness, Mr Noble Udeh, said that a six-month-old child was among the dead.
“In the course of the rescue operation, we discovered the corpse of a six-month-old baby and another four-year-old baby.
“Their mother was in critical condition and had been rushed to the hospital.
Udeh said that the economic situation in the country might have forced inhabitants of the collapsed building to live in such an uncompleted structure.
“In the country we have many calibres of people and the victims may have fallen among the poor; that explains why they live in such building,” Udeh said.
A source at the FMC confirmed the death of four persons, adding that two others were in critical condition.
The Deputy Governor of Abia, Chief Emeka Ananaba, was among early callers at the site of the incident.
NAN
