No fewer than 18 persons have been rescued from the rubble of the collapsed two-storey building under construction at Gwarinpa, Abuja.
The Quest Times had earlier reported that at least two people were reported dead in a building that collapsed at 7 Avenue, Gwarinpa area of Federal Capital Territory.
The building collapsed at around 11:00 a.m on Thursday, and left many people injured while others were trapped beneath the debris.
The building collapsed when some labourers resumed work on the site.
Earlier on Thursday, after the building collapse, Ikharo Attah, the senior special assistant to the federal capital territory (FCT) minister on monitoring, inspection and enforcement, said seven persons were rescued.
Attah had, however, said many persons were still feared trapped under the rubble of the building — a shopping mall under construction in the 7th avenue area of Gwarinpa in Abuja.
“As of 2:41pm on Thursday, we have rescued seven persons. Out of the seven, five looked stable while two have been taken to the hospital due to their unstable condition,” Attah said.
“So, many of them are still there. Many of them are still calling their relatives under the rubble.”
The Coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Umar Shuaibu confirmed this while addressing journalists at the scene of the incident.
He said the priority for now was to save lives of those who were trapped under the rubble and not to apportion blame.
According to him “When we have collapsed buildings like this, we don’t apportion blame. Our first engagement is to make sure that we rescue lives. As you can see, the people we have rescued. At least we have brought out no less than 18 people out of this building and still there are people still trapped.
“However at the end of the exercise, all the buildings here would be subjected to integrity tests to make sure all the buildings that are around this area are sound but if not, we will stop whatever development that is there. If it is soldiers, we will bring them down here.”
At the time of this report, about five excavators are currently working at the site of the collapsed building.
Some of the trapped victims have been making calls through their mobile phones to confirm their locations.
The rescue operation is being carried out by a joint team which includes; National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), FCT Fire Service, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), the Nigerian police, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and Julius Berger Nigeria.