Yesterday at Rumuoke Street, off Okilton junction on Ada George Road, Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State, a two-story building collapsed, injuring four people and leaving many others fearing they were trapped inside.
According to information obtained by News outlets, a building that was under construction collapsed while work was still being done, trapping some workers beneath the rubble.
According to Mrs. Chineyere Nduh, an eyewitness, some of the trapped workers were living in the building because the cost of transportation had increased as a result of the removal of the subsidy and their homes were far from the construction site.
Residents, according to her, heard a loud noise coming from the building early on yesterday morning, and when they ran outside to investigate, they discovered the two-story building under construction had collapsed.
“We observed some people clambering out of the rubble. Some individuals helped with the extraction of the victims and transported them to medical facilities for treatment,” Nduh continued.
Siminalayi Fubara, the governor of Rivers State, has reportedly ordered an urgent investigation into the building’s immediate and long-term causes.
Chukwuemeka Woke, the Governor’s Commissioner for Special Projects, visited the site and instructed the appropriate government agencies to speak with anyone involved in the project right away and hold anyone responsible accountable.
Additionally, he cordoned off the area and brought earth-moving tools to the scene to remove the building’s debris.
Fubara stated: “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 elements 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.
“Those involved in the project will face legal action if they compromise in any way, which will serve as a warning to other participants.”
When he visited the injured men at the hospital, he felt sorry for them, but the medical staff there assured him that they would soon be released because their conditions had stabilized.
