Collapsed seven-storey building: 15 dead, 31 rescued

Mr Ejike Martins, South-South Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), has said  31 persons have been rescued alive, while 15 others were brought out of the rubble  dead, at the site of the collapsed seven-storey building in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Martins told newsmen in Port Harcourt on Monday that every floor of the seven-floor building fell on each other in the process of the collapse, making the effort of  rescue operators `appear to be slow’ .
According to him, the complexity of the incident is caused by the  slow pace of rescue operations at the collapsed seven-storey building in Port Harcourt.
“The peculiarity of this collapse is such that every floor fell directly on the other; the implication is that the debris will be removed bit by bit.
“This is what has made the operation to be seen as relatively slow, this is also the reason it is taking some time,’’ he said.
Martins said the organisations involved in the rescue operations had been very proactive but added that they were  constrained by the peculiarity of the collapse.
The seven-storey building under construction at the Government Reserved Area, Port Harcourt collapsed on November 19.
The rescue operations at the site of the building collapse was being criticized by some members of the public as “ slow and poor”.