Survivors of a building collapse in Enugu, have narrated how they escaped death during the incident.
The two-storey building collapsed in Ifo Layout, Abakpa Nike Enugu on Sunday night with a woman believed to be trapped in the rubble.
One of the survivors, who simply identified himself as Ben, told The Nation the incident occurred around 9pm after they heard cracks in the building and rushed out of the house.
According to him, a lot of persons came out alive but they were yet to ascertain if anyone was trapped in the building.
He said,
“We started hearing the cracking sounds around 9pm on Sunday when some of us had already gone to bed. I came out to check what was wrong. I also called the attention of another neighbour, equally was coming out of the building after hearing the sounds.
“Already, almost everyone in the building had heard the sounds and rushed downstairs. It was then that some of started shouting so that those still sleeping would wake up and come out.
“As God would have it, when nit seemed that everyone was out of the building, the house started falling. It was like a movie. It happened just about 10 minutes after we raised the alarm.”
A neighbour, Dr Fredrick Ilo, whose house the survivors slept, told newsmen that none of the survivors went out with any valuable.
“They did not bring out any property. I don’t think anyone is there. There are six families in the building. What I noticed in that area is that developers did not give room for drainage.
“The place is usually flooded. If it is possible for the government to intervene and ensure that there is proper drainage in that area, it will help the area a lot”, Ilo said.
Another resident said,
“We are expecting SEMA to come with payloader so we can start excavating. We have also made arrangements for our own excavator”.
A woman said she has not seen one of her visitors but it has not been confirmed that anyone is trapped.
The woman said she has called the family of the lady who came to visit her and they said the lady has not come back. She did not raise this alarm until now, everybody is surprised that she is saying it now. All the people that came out of the building are staying with neighbours around.
Rescue operations had since started as officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Enugu State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) were mobilized to the site on Monday.