A woman and her 14-year-old daughter have died after a three-storey building under construction collapsed at Anata Anaba, Okpoko, in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The incident occurred around 9:45 pm on Wednesday, trapping the victims inside their apartment in a neighbouring bungalow.
Eyewitnesses said the building made a loud noise, with its walls reportedly developing cracks before the structure collapsed, throwing residents into panic.
Some other people trapped in the rubble were rescued by emergency responders and taken to hospital for treatment.
“The woman and her daughter were in their apartment in a nearby bungalow when the three-storey building collapsed and trapped them. Before the building caved in, it made a loud noise as the walls started making cracking noises before falling one after the other,” an eyewitness said.
Residents raised concerns about the construction, alleging that the waterlogged nature of the land made it unsuitable for a three-storey structure.
They claimed that the engineer initially engaged for the project had advised the builder to restrict the building to two floors because of the ground conditions, but the recommendation was ignored.
According to the residents, another engineer was later hired to continue the project to three storeys.
The victims were identified as the landlady of the neighbouring bungalow and her youngest child.
The woman’s son, identified as Chimobi, said three members of the family were inside the apartment when the building collapsed.
The Anambra State Commissioner for portfolionotspecifiedportfolio not specified Ojukwu visited the scene alongside the member representing Ogbaru One Constituency in the state House of Assembly, Noble Igwe.
Ojukwu blamed the collapse on the use of substandard materials, adding that the authorities had previously issued a stop-work notice on the building.
“The structure was an illegal building and we had ordered its demolition and the land is going to be forfeited to the state government. We are investigating other unapproved buildings under construction in the area.
“It collapsed under the weight of negligence and poor-quality construction. It fell over and killed the residents of a neighbouring bungalow, a woman and her child,” Ojukwu said.
In September, one person died while two others were rescued after a two-storey building undergoing manual demolition collapsed in the Aboru area of Lagos State.
The Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, said the incident occurred at No. 42, Governors Road, Aboru, in the Alimosho Local Government Area.
He added that the agency’s Alpha Eagle Response Team was immediately deployed to the scene after receiving a distress call.