Four injured, many trapped as two-storey building collapses in Rivers

• Fubara orders urgent investigation
Four people were injured and many feared trapped in a two-storey building, which collapsed, yesterday, at Rumuoke Street, off Okilton junction on Ada George Road, Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

The Guardian gathered that the building, which was under construction caved in while works were ongoing with some workers trapped inside the debris.

An eyewitness, Mrs. Chineyere Nduh, told The Guardian that some of the trapped workers were living in the building because of the hike in transportation as a result of subsidy removal, since their homes were far from the construction site.

She said residents, in the early hours of yesterday, heard a loud sound from the building and when they rushed out to ascertain what it was, noticed that the two-storey building under construction had collapsed.

“We saw some people crawling out from the debris. Some people assisted to pull out the victims and took them to hospitals for treatments,” Nduh added.

As at press time, Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has ordered urgent investigation on the immediate and remote causes of the collapsed building.

A representative of the governor, the Commissioner for Special Projects, Chukwuemeka Woke, who visited the site, charged relevant government agencies to immediately question those involved in the project and bring anyone culpable to book.

He also mobilised earth-moving equipment to the site to evacuate the debris of the collapsed building, and cordoned off the site.

Fubara said: “The Ministry of Urban Development is to take immediate action by conducting site investigations and inspections, destructive testing and non-destructive testing of collapsed structural element to establish their strength by the determination of the yield strength of the reinforcements and sieve analysis of the soil at the site, to ascertain immediate and remote causes of the building collapse.

“If there is any compromise by those involved in the project, they will be prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others.”

He sympathised with the injured men whom he visited at the hospital, while doctors treating them assured that they would be discharged in a few days as they were already in stable condition.