Residents of Old Express off Sameck junction by Faulks road in Aba, the commercial nerve of Abia State were on Wednesday thrown into mourning following the collapse of a three- storey building that killed one of its occupants.

The incident followed the collapse of another uncompleted three-storey building at Park road by East after a torrential rain that wrecked havocs in Aba and Umuahia, the Abia State capital.

While the incident at park road was attributed to use of inferior materials by the contractor, it was gathered the building at Old Express collapsed into the ground as a result of persistent waterlog that weakened its foundation.

Our reporter, who visited the incident scenes at Old Express and Park road respectively, observed the collapsed building at Park road was under lock and key.

Efforts were however still ongoing at the time of filing the report to rescue one of the trapped tenants in the rubble.

The trapped resident was said to have called his relatives to inform them he was under the collapsed structure at Old Express.

Some of the workers at Park road at the time of the incident were said to have sustained minor injuries but have been taken to hospitals where they were receiving medical attention.

Some of the eyewitnesses, who spoke to our reporter, disclosed that the two incidents occurred after a torrential rain that hit the city.

An eyewitness at Old Express, who gave his name simply as Chima, the deceased, a father of three had escaped from the building but couldn’t make it after part of the fence collapsed on him, allowing other blocks to hit him in the process.

“The owner of the building died many years ago. The people living in the house are his two wives and other tenants.

“We learnt that one of the landlord’s wives noticed that the house was cracking. She raised the alarm, asking their tenants to leave the building that she feared that the building was going to collapse.

“The man that died, from what we learnt was held back by his wife but he eventually found his way into the building after he said the money that he wanted to use for something urgent.

“He made it alive but while he was running out of the building part of the fence fall on him but before help could come his way, other blocks had already collapsed on him and he died.

“The other person trapped inside is an Okada man. I learnt that he was resting in the house before the unfortunate incident.

“We started this rescue operation when he called one of his relatives informing them that he was still trapped in the structure.

“So, what you see going on is an effort to see if he can be rescued alive.

“You need to see the water log here whenever it rains and this has been happening over the years. We were happy when the Governor of Abia State Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu started construction work on this Old Express.

“But our joy went down when we discovered that the work stopped just by Sameck. We are appealing to the governor to come to our rescue. We fear that many houses may go this way.”

Some of the tenants who were seen around the vicinity thanked God for sparing their lives but lamented their loss.

•Sourced from The Nation report

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