A woman and her 14-year-old daughter have died after a three-storey building under construction collapsed in Anata Anaba, Okpoko, in Anambra State’s Ogbaru Local Government Area.
The collapse happened at about 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday, trapping the pair inside their apartment in a neighbouring bungalow. Other people caught in the rubble were rescued by emergency workers and taken to hospital, residents said.
An eyewitness said the building made a loud noise before its walls began cracking and the structure fell.
“The woman and her daughter were in their apartment in a nearby bungalow when the three-storey building collapsed and trapped them. Before the building caved in, it made a loud noise as the walls started making cracking noises before falling one after the other.
“Some other people who were also trapped in the rubble were later rescued and rushed to the hospital by an emergency response team that mobilised to the scene to evacuate victims,” the eyewitness said.
Residents said they had warned that the waterlogged land might not support a three-storey structure. They claimed the engineer initially working on the project had advised limiting it to two floors, but that another engineer was later brought in to continue construction.
The victims were identified as the landlady of the neighbouring bungalow and her youngest child. The woman’s son, Chimobi, said three family members were in the apartment when the building collapsed.
“I was outside at the time of the incident. But my mother and my sister were in the bedroom when the building collapsed directly on them, leaving them with no opportunity to escape.
“It’s unfortunate. We had earlier warned the builder about the danger posed by the structure and we were joined by other residents in calling for the construction to be stopped, but our concerns were not heeded,” he said.
Anambra Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development Chijioke Ojukwu confirmed the collapse on Thursday. He visited the site with Noble Igwe, who represents Ogbaru One Constituency in the state House of Assembly.
Ojukwu blamed the collapse on poor-quality materials and said authorities had previously issued a stop-work notice.
“The structure was an illegal building and we had ordered its demolition and the land is going to be forfeited to the state government. We are investigating other unapproved buildings under construction in the area.
“It collapsed under the weight of negligence and poor-quality construction. It fell over and killed the residents of a neighbouring bungalow, a woman and her child,” Ojukwu said.
In a separate incident in September, one person died and two others were rescued after a two-storey building being manually demolished collapsed in the Aboru area of Lagos State. Lagos State Emergency Management Agency Permanent Secretary Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu said the collapse occurred at No. 42, Governors Road, in Alimosho Local Government Area.
