Three rescued as probe begins

The three construction workers, who were initially trapped at the five-storey building that collapsed at the premises of Dennis Memorial Grammar School in Onitsha, the commercial hub of Anambra State, have been rescued alive.

The building, under construction, caved in at about 7:15 am on Wednesday, trapping about three of the workers.

As of 5:15 pm on Wednesday, one person was rescued alive during rescue operations carried out by Anambra State government officials and members of the Red Cross Society.

But speaking to our correspondent on enquiry on Thursday, the Chairman, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Mr Victor Metu, disclosed that the three trapped workers were finally rescued alive before midnight of Wednesday.

Metu said that an investigation to unravel the true cause of the collapse had commenced immediately, adding that the rescued team left the scene of the building collapse around 12:00am on Thursday.

He stated that it was a full collapse and not a partial collapse noting that the collapse could be traced to a faulty foundation and substandard materials.

He said, “We rescued the first trapped person around 6 pm on Wednesday, the second person around 9:30 pm and the third around 11:45 pm.

“As the chairman, I am going to write a letter to the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to set up a panel of enquiry consisting of professional experts and engineers to carry out the final analysis on the collapsed building.

“Looking at the calibre and qualified engineers that were attached to the project, you will have no fear, but until this report comes to me because I perceived a lot of things yesterday, some were saying that the building was designed for two floors.

“They said the old boys who were the initiators of the building project saw the need to push it further, but that was mere speculation until I saw the drawing.

“I will also write to the chief consultant to provide me with the drawing, I will then know if it was designed for four, three or two storeys.

“From the nature of the collapse, it was a complete collapse, if it were a partial collapse, we would know that the foundation is strong. It is likely that the beams and columns are weak, probably there is a compromise of the standard.”

According to him, the situation called for concern, while assuring that the agency would dig to find out the level of foundation if it was designed for the five-storey building.

He assured that an integrity test would be carried out before he could now come holistically to tell the public if it was a human factor or a natural factor.

“Someone said it was initially a tunnel where some people hide while another person said it was a dumping ground. If all these were correct, it means there was a hole there before it was converted to a dumping ground in other to fill it up, if after my analysis I find out that it is correct, the implication is that the foundation is faulty.

“In other words, they ought to have done not just 1.5 dip, but at least up to six or seven and then, it would also be wrong for that type of building to be positioned there,” Metu added.