Wall collapses, kills 2, injures 4 artisans in Wuse II

By Stanley Onyekwere

Two construction workers lost their lives, while four others escaped with injuries yesterday when a perimetre fence felled on them, at a building construction site on Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, in Wuse II, Abuja.

Confirming the incident, Director General of FCT Emergency Management Agency

(FEMA), Dr. Abbas Idriss revealed that the victims were removed from the rubbles of the collapsed wall located beside a United Bank for Africa (UBA) outlet in the area.

FEMA received a distress call between 10 to 11 am, that there was a building collapse beside UBA, and drafted its rescue team to the site, on getting there, it was discovered it was a wall that felled on the affected artisans, working around the area.

He however, opined that the probable cause of the incident was that the affected artisans had encroached deep into another building, because it is not what they were building that fell.

“So far six people were removed from the rumbles, two were fatally injured while the remaining four are in the hospital receiving medical care.

“It is not the building under construction that collapsed, because it is still at the foundation level, it is the wall (perimeter fence) that felled on them”, the FEMA boss stressed. Stressing the need for property developers to always obey the building codes and to consult as they excavate to safeguard lives and properties, the FEMA DG appealed to the relevant FCT Secretariat, Departments and Agencies

(SDAs) to apply sanctions where possible to serve as deterrent to others.

It was gathered that aside FEMA personnel, others from National Emergency Management Agency, FCT Police Command, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Federal and FCT Fire Service, and Department of Development Control were part of the rescue teams at the site.