A two-story building fell in Kubwa, a satellite town in the Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), trapping employees on the upper floors and causing fear among the locals.
At Hamza Abdullahi Street, which is off Gado Nasco Road, the structure that was under construction fell.
Yesterday morning when our reporter arrived on the spot, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) personnel were engaged in a rescue effort.The NEMA reports that six people were impacted.
Manzo Ezekiel, the agency's spokesperson, said in a statement that the NEMA received notification of the event at around one in the morning and promptly dispatched first responders, including the FCT Emergency Management Agency, Fire Service, Civil Defense Corps, and Police to the scene.
Two people who were trapped in the collapsed building in Kubwa, an Abuja suburb, have perished, according to an announcement made yesterday by the director general of the FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Alhaji Abbas Idriss.
Five people were retrieved alive from the collapsed site, according to Alhaji Idriss; three of them had injuries of varying severity, while the other two were unharmed.
Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, the Minister of State for the FCT, has expressed sympathy to the families impacted by the collapse of the Kubwa building.
One of the victims pulled from the wreckage, Hafeez Olayinka, claimed he was stuck inside for many hours.
Olayinka informed newsmen that he arrived to the fallen building on Monday. Olayinka then went back to the scene of the tragedy after receiving medical attention.
"I was trapped since Thursday night along with others. On Thursday at about 11:30 p.m., we realized the structure was falling apart. We attempted to flee but were unsuccessful. This morning, five of us were saved and sent to the hospital," he stated.
The building that has fallen was was a shopping center but has just been turned into flats, according to Mrs. Uba Gloria, who lives next door. She said that the extra blocks that had been added to the construction could have caused it to collapse.
Sharp construction approaches, according to architect and local citizen Daniel Chuks, frequently lead to breakdowns or collapses. He suggested that every building be subjected to proper and thorough oversight by knowledgeable and qualified specialists at every level of the development process.