TRAGEDY struck again on Wednesday in the erosion prone Oko community in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State where a four-storey building nearing completion collapsed, killing three people and injuring one.

According to residents, the rear end of the building which had three phases collapsed in the afternoon shortly after a heavy downpour.

They said that the deceased went in to sleep hoping that further collapse would not occur.The building is suspected to be a private hostel accommodation for the students of Federal Polytechnic, Oko.

This is not the first time buildings have collapsed in this community. In May, last year, a three-storey building similarly being constructed by a private individual as students’ residence collapsed killing seven people. Like in this case, most of those killed were masons who used the down floor of the building as temporary abode.

On Wednesday, one of the residents in the area who simply identified himself as Tony gave an eyewitness account of what happened the previous night.

According to him, one of the workers who escaped death from the collapsed building had warned the others not to pass the night in the building but they refused.

“I heard him warning them not to sleep in the building since a section of the building had collapsed but they refused. They argued that nothing would happen.

“They even persuaded him to go in with them and he followed them but later left the building”, he said.

He also said that another survivor, a student of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, whose name he gave as Samuel who worked at the site to sustain himself had a fractured arm when the first collapse took place.

He said that the bodies of the dead persons have been exhumed and taken to an undisclosed mortuary.

According to him, the part of the building which was nearing completion had collapsed on Monday afternoon after a heavy downpour, a development, he said, was enough signal for the deceased to have hurriedly quit the building.

“After the first set of the building collapsed on Sunday, Musa suggested to his co-workers to vacate the building, but they didn’t heed to his advice”, he added.

According to him, it was not up to two hours they were advised to vacate the building when the rest of the structure also collapsed.

It was not clear what the cause of the building collapse was but sources blamed usage of inferior materials.

Names of the owner of the building as well as the contractor handling it could not be ascertained as at press time.

Efforts to reach the Police Public Relations of Officer in the state, Nkeiruka Nwode, to react on the matter were also not successful. – Independent

– June 15, 2017 @ 8: 25 /