Onitsha school collapse building: three workers trapped as Dep gov. assure safe rescue

From Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha

No fewer than three building workers were trapped at the five storey collapsed at Dennis Memorial Grammar School (DMGS), Onitsha, Anambra State.

The five storey building under construction at its finishing stage collapsed at ealy hours of June 12, 2024 where three workers were still under the debris.

The rescue team from Anambra State, Local Government officials and Nigeria Red Cross Society were doing their best to rescue the trapped workers alive who were still speaking from the debris.

The rescue workers who used an excavator to bring out iron and debris, under the watch of security operatives, COREN taskforce and officials Anambra state Physical Board led by its MD Chief Chike Madukwe and other state government agencies.

The deputy governor of Anambra State Dr. Onyekachi Ibezim who visited the site called for calm and assured that those trapped would be rescued alive.

He ordered to provide more excavators and water tanker to pour at the site to douce the intensity of the scorching Sun.

Ibezim commended the effort rescue team for their prompt intervention and urged them to sustain the zeal to rescue those trapped.

The Chairman of Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Technical/Expatriate Committee of Anambra State Mr. Victor Metu, an Engineer who spoke at the site of the collapsed building said that team of engineers handling the project were qualified and registered engineers.

He said that the cause of the collapse building might be substandard materials, stressing that until full investigation and analysis are done the society cannot certain the main cause of the collapse.

At the time of filling this report efforts were on top gear to rescue the trapped workers.