TWO persons died in a building collapse that occurred in the Wuse 2 area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Wednesday, April 19.
A fence adjacent the building fell on the structure, which was still under construction, trapping six workers.
According to eye witnesses, the foundation of the building had been dug too close to surrounding houses, and affected the fence of the adjoining building, leading to the collapse.
Corroborating eyewitness accounts, Head of Operations, FCT Fire Service Adebayo Amiola, while addressing journalists at the scene, said there was no retaining wall around the structure which could have mitigated the incident.
“Out of the six people that were trapped, four were rescued alive and two were fatally injured. The building was under construction and the adjacent fence to the main building under construction collapses on men that were working on the site.
“No retaining wall was introduced while they were excavating the site where the building will be situated, so the adjacent wall fell on the people that were working,” Amiola said.
He said the injured persons have been conveyed to the General Hospital, Asokoro for medical treatment.
Director, Department of Development Control of the Federal Capital Territory Development Authority (FCDA) Mukhtar Usman Galadima told journalists that there was an earlier order stopping work at the site until necessary measures were put in place.
“The Department of Development Control has done all within its power by even stopping the work here. But then the developer, maybe using his engineer, did not heed the warning and then this incident happened.
“Because when you are doing this kind of activity, you need to shore it up, retain the wall so that there will be no collapse. We didn’t know that work had resumed until this thing happened this morning.”
Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), FCT Fire Service, National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), among others, were present at the scene.
On Thursday, February 2, a three-storey building still under construction collapsed in the Gwarimpa area of the FCT, killing three persons.
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) subsequently revoked the allocation for the plot on which the building was being constructed.
Also, in 2022, at least two people died when a building housing a shopping mall collapsed at the Kubwa area of the FCT.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.