Eight escape death as building collapses in Delta

The collapsed building


No fewer than eight persons narrowly escaped death yesterday when an uncompleted two-story building collapsed at Aboh-Ogwashi-Uku. Occupants of the building included a security man and his family, alongside five other persons, who are workers of the contractor handling the project.
The incident, which occurred around 3a.m. attracted residents of the serene satellite community to the site, who immediately rushed out to rescue the occupants, which sources said is to be used as a hotel.

According to a security source at Ogwashi-Uku police station, it was the vigilance group chairman of Aboh-Ogwashi-Uku, who alerted the police over the incident.

The vigilance group chairman in company of his men and other residents drilled a hole through an opening from which the occupants in the house were rescued.
“When we got to the scene, we discovered that the Hausa man who is the security to the house and his family were trapped inside. Fortunately, there was no causality other than few of them that sustained minor injuries.”

A community leader noted building might have collapsed due to structural defect arising from the usage of substandard materials for the construction. “Beyond that, I think the engineer handling the project may not have carried out a sample test of the sand. It is not every area or location that has a good soil to carry a storey building. These are some of the things that ordinarily an engineer should be sure of before embarking on such project.”

Efforts to reach the engineer handling the project were not fruitful as at the time of filing this report as there was no person on ground to make his contact available when our correspondent visited the scene of the collapsed building.