One Dead, Others Trapped in Abuja Mall Collapse

One person has been confirmed dead after a two-storey building collapsed in Kubwa Satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The PUNCH had earlier reported that two persons were trapped and while five were rescued after the collapse.

The building, which was under construction, collapsed at Hamza Abdullahi Street Off Gado Nasco Road. The building is also housing a shopping mall.

According to eyewitnesses, the incident occurred around 11:30 pm, Thursday night.

Five of the victims were rescued by a joint task force of operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Nigeria Police Force, and some residents.

Officials of the National Emergency Management Agency are also at the location of the incident.

The son of the victim who died in the rubble, Shuaibu Abdullahi, was one of the victims earlier evacuated from the collapsed building and taken to a general hospital to receive treatment.

Abdullahi who spoke to our correspondent before his father’s corpse was found had noted that his dad was one of the two other persons trapped in the building.

He said, “I was rescued with the other four persons, but my dad who is a security man is still in the collapsed building and I sustained injuries.”

Earlier, the coordinator of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council, Umar Shuaibu, told newsmen that they were making efforts to rescue the other victims trapped.

Shuaibu said, “Two among the rescued are out of the hospital while three victims are still in the hospital. But we are suspecting that two people are trapped because it is development ongoing. So usually in a construction site like this, we cannot determine who and who are inside. As you can see here, we are making sure that all hands are on deck to rescue the trapped victims.

“Right now, our attention is securing lives. Whoever is responsible, we will know later. Usually, the developers on sites cut corners. At times, they do not do proper mixing. They sometimes use substandard materials.”

Also, the spokesperson to the FCT Minister, Mr Attah Ikharo, who spoke to our correspondent, noted that the FCT Administration has made efforts to rescue victims, especially the deceased, and the last person reportedly trapped in the building.

He said, “Work has been ongoing in an advanced state. I have been going around the issue of the collapsed building, and five persons have been rescued so far, and another male have been pulled out of the rubble but he seems to have been confirmed dead and have been taken to the morgue at the Kubwa general hospital.

“A search is still ongoing for the last male that some of the people claimed came into the place last night.”

One of the rescued victims, Hafeez Olayinka, who spoke to The PUNCH confirmed that the building had collapsed on Thursday night at about 11:30 pm, but they were only rescued in the early hours of today (Friday), and were taken to the hospital.

“At about 11:30 pm on Thursday, we noticed that the building was collapsing, and we tried to escape. But five of us were rescued this morning, and they took us to the hospital.”