Rescuers deploy more excavators, man power to collapsed Imo building

***four bodies recovered, five out of 12 wounded discharged from hospital

A combined team of the Owerri Capital Development Authority (OCDA); the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA); the Fire Service; the Red Cross among others, have deployed two extra excavators, bringing to a total of four, excavating the debris, to bring out possible persons trapped or killed in the collapsed eight-storey building under construction on Musa Yar ‘adua Drive, Owerri, Imo State.

The collapsed structure which had been billed to be a five star hotel, according to sources, collapsed Thursday evening after a loud structural defect noise occurred as site workers were working.

The General Manager of the OCDA, Innocent Ikpamezie, while briefing journalists on Saturday, disclosed that two dead bodies were brought out the day it happened, while two others buried there, bringing to a total of four, were removed on Friday, disclosing that they had been deposited in a morgue in Owerri.

He debunked as false the story carried in some national dailies that 15 persons were dead in the incident, clarifying that five out of 12 persons wounded had been discharged from the hospital.

Ikpamezie, noted that more man power had been deployed to quicken the operation of removing the possible trapped persons, including a woman and her two children who were petty traders on the ground floor of the building at the time it happened.

He explained that the reason for the operation taking two days was in order not to inflict more damage as the rescue was going on.

The OCDA boss said the building was approved of seven floors with a paint house, wondering why it exceeded that.

The governor, Hope Uzodimma, after vising the site on Friday, felt bad, saying that investigation would be carried out.