One person has been rescued alive, but two others are still trapped after a six-story building under construction collapsed at Dennis Memorial Grammar School, DMGS Onitsha Wednesday morning.
The building, it was gathered, was being done by an alumnus of the school, with the backing of the host Church, as a gift to the school for their upcoming centenary celebration.
It was also gathered that approval was given by the Anambra State Physical Planning Board, ANSPPB, for six floors to be erected and the building was being roofed when it collapsed.
When our correspondent visited the scene late Wednesday, excavation work was ongoing to rescue the remaining two persons trapped, while the rescued person had been rushed to a nearby hospital for medical attention.
Speaking with newsmen, the ANSPPB Chairman, Barr Chike Maduekwe revealed that the building has provisional approval and was being supervised by one of Nigeria’s renowned structural engineers, Engr Dr Oyeka, and three others.
He also revealed that the Board had met with the engineers before the commencement of the building and given them specifications, which they have been following ever since.
“Everybody is asking the question- ‘why did the building collapse considering the strength of the materials used.’
“Many people are saying all kinds of things, blaming the Board or the builder.
“But the truth is that in any human endeavour, you cannot completely eliminate these kinds of things. In Lagos, up to three have collapsed since the rains began this year. In fact, there was a sky scraper that caved in in the US recently too.
“So, we can’t completely eliminate these kinds of occurrences.
“However, what we are doing through constant supervision, is to ensure that we reduce such occurrences to the barest minimum,” Maduekwe stated.
The ANSPPB boss revealed that as a proactive step forward, the State Government intends to assemble professionals and investigate the matter to understand why the building eventually collapsed after the structural engineer did all they needed to do for a standard building.
“This investigation is not targeted at any individual, but specifically to find out what happened and ensure that we mitigate such occurrences in the future.
“The truth is if it were some quack doing some shoddy job, we would have come down heavily on them but we can attest to what was done on this project.
“These are responsible people and we have been supervising it through all the stages to ensure the integrity of the structure.
“Why this happened is still a mystery to us,” he said.
Maduekwe, who emphasized that the Board is committed to the work the government has directed it to do, assured that they will do so with the interest of the public being considered first.
He also issued a warning to engineers handling structural projects to ensure that nobody is allowed to sleep in a building during the construction phases, as most building collapses have been found to occur at night.
