• I ran out naked – Survivor
One of the survivors of the two-storey building collapse in Kubwa, Abuja, has shared his experience, stating that he ran out of the collapsed building, naked. The survivor, Abdullahi Masud, and his female guest, were subsequently taken to the hospital, having escaped from the building before it collapsed.
Masud said one of his neighbours had earlier drawn his attention to a cracked wall, close to the staircase in the building.
“I later noticed an unfamiliar sound from several parts of the building while I was taking my bath in the morning. I managed to run out naked. I learnt that other people were able to escape too, leaving only one lady stranded at the time. It was while I was in the hospital that my girlfriend was brought too.”
A section of the two-storey residential building collapsed with several people trapped in the rubble. It was gathered that the building, located beside the popular Cupid Hotel on Cupid Road (Sultan Dasuki Way) in Kubwa was formerly a hotel, Al-Hilal.
It later became a hospital and a residential apartment when the hospital owners left. One of the other three survivors, pleading anonymity, disclosed that when she woke up around 7am, she heard some cracks in the building and ran out.
Another rescued victim, a corps member was brought out from the rubble unconscious by the combined rescued officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), FCT Emergency Management Department (FEM), FCT Fire Service, Federal Road Safety Corps, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, and the Nigeria Police Force.
The corps member was rushed to the Kubwa General Hospital in an ambulance.
The FCT Emergency Management Department, (FEMD), confirmed that the incident occurred at about 6:45am.
While emergency responders and security personnel were on ground, rescue efforts were however hampered as the cranes needed for the rescue were yet to arrive as at 8:45am, nearly two hours after the incident.
Another resident of the building who also pleaded anonymity, disclosed that he “heard a rumbling sound around 7am. I thought it was from my next compound, only for me to rush here and I heard commotion. So, I went to the front and saw that the building had collapsed.”
In the wake of the disaster, the Ag. Director General of the FEMD, Florence Dawon Wenegieme has appealed to developers to follow strictly the building code and avoid the use of substandard materials. The collapsed building, according to her contained 45 self-contained rooms.
Although Wenegieme said search and rescue efforts would continue until the last person was removed “if at all there is still someone trapped in the rubble,” the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said it has ended rescue operations, having rescued four people from the site of the building collapse.
The agency said rescue operation was called off after emergency workers cleared the rubble to ground zero to ensure that no one was left under the debris of the building which collapsed on Saturday around 6:40am.
The collapsed structure was part of a two-storey building located beside Cupid Hotel, Sultan Dansuki Road, Phase 2, Site 2, Kubwa, Bwari Area Council.
Out of the four people rescued, one was reportedly hospitalised due to serious injuries, while others with minor injuries were treated and discharged immediately.
This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja, on Saturday, by the Head of the Press Unit of NEMA, Manzo Ezekiel.
The statement reads: “The search and rescue at the site of the two-storey building that collapsed this morning (Saturday) in Kubwa area of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja has been called off after four persons trapped under the rubbles were rescued.
“The rescue operation ended at about 4 pm after emergency workers cleared the fallen rubbles to ground zero to be sure that no one was left under the debris.
“While three of the rescued persons taken to the hospital were treated for minor injuries and discharged, one of them is still being attended to due to more serious injuries.”
The rescue team comprised the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the FCT Emergency Management Department, the Fire Service, the Nigerian Police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) among others.
The Abuja incident happened after a secondary school collapsed in Jos, Plateau capital, killing at least 22 and leaving over 100 injured.
