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No fewer than two construction workers were feared trapped as a five-storey building collapsed at the premises of Dennis Memorial Grammar School in Onitsha, the commercial nerve centre of Anambra State.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the building being constructed by the school had reached the finishing stages when it collapsed at about 7.15 am on Wednesday.
The building, started two years ago, was said to have been initiated by the international old boys’ chapter of the school to commemorate its forthcoming centenary event.
A source in the school who witnessed the collapse but pleaded for anonymity said, “The building started caving in from the last floor until it came down to the rubbles. The failed structure did not pose any danger as the students’ hostel was far from the building site. This helped to avoid any casualty on the part of the students.
“But we learnt that some construction workers were already at the site when it collapsed but we don’t know the number of the workers.”
When our correspondent visited the site, on Wednesday evening, he gathered that three persons were initially trapped, but one person was later rescued at about 5:35 pm, as the rescue team from the Anambra State officials and Nigeria Red Cross Society were doing their best to rescue the trapped workers who were heard still speaking from the debris.
The rescue workers used an excavator to bring out iron and debris, under the watch of security operatives, a task force from the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria and officials of the state Physical Board led by its Managing Director, Chief Chike Madukwe and other government agencies.
The state Deputy Governor, Dr Onyekachi Ibezim, who visited the site, called for calm and assured the residents that those still trapped would be rescued.
Ibezim ordered the rescue workers to provide more excavators and water tankers at the site to douse the intensity of the heat.
He commended the rescue team for their efforts and prompt intervention and urged them to sustain their zeal to rescue those trapped.
The Chairman of the COREN Technical/Expatriate Committee of Anambra State, Victor Metu, who spoke to our correspondent, said the team of engineers handling the project were qualified and registered.
Meju said he and his team were on the ground to ascertain various factors involved in the building collapse.
He said the cause of the collapsed building might be substandard materials, stressing that until full investigation and analysis were done, the society could not ascertain the main cause of the collapse
“I was at the scene right away to get the various factors involved. We are still excavating. I learnt that there may be some people trapped, but I will give full information later.”
Also, the Public Relations Officer of the Anambra State Emergency Management Agency, Chinyere Nwoye, said its personnel were immediately deployed to the site when the news broke.
As of the time of filing this report at about 5:35 pm, the two persons were still trapped as rescue operations were still going on in the presence of heavy security operatives.
