An 18-month old girl, Osinachi Nnabue, and four others have been killed in the early hours of Sunday after a building collapsed on Fire Service/Mbaise Road in Owerri
However, a man from the same collapsed building was reported to have escaped the collapse of the building as he reportedly stepped out of his room to smoke a stick of cigarette only for the building to collapse.
Mr and Mrs Dominic Nnabue, parents of the late Osinachi, and one Sunday Uzoho escaped narrowly and were reportedly rushed to an undisclosed hospital, due to various degrees of injuries they sustained.
Referring to the man that narrowly escaped being killed in the collapsed building, a sympathizer, Mr Nnamdi Iheme, pointed that “This man walked out from his room between 3 and 4 am to have a stick of cigarette and only came back to behold that the building he came out from had collapsed. He was the person that actually raised the alarm, which attracted other people”.
“I came out very early to convey early morning worshipers to church before the building collapsed.
“I was the one who rushed to the police station near the house to alert them on the incident.
“I was shocked to see four people already dead when they were brought out of the place,”
However the Owerri division of the Nigeria Emergency Management Authority (NEMA), through its state coordinator, Mr Evans Ugoh, confirmed the casualties, said rescue operation was ongoing.
“We have been able to rescue five people while four have been confirmed dead, but we are still on to see if there are others trapped in the building,”.
Reacting to the development Governor Rochas Okorocha said;
“This is very sad. I will take drastic measures to checkmate sub-standard buildings in this state, regardless of who is involved,” he said.
The Governor also promised to take care of the medical bills of the victims recuperating in the hospital as he warned against the use of quacks and substandard materials in the construction of buildings.
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