From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
No fewer than five residents have died owing to the collapse of a four-storey building in the metropolitan area of Kano State.
Witnesses told Daily Sun that the four-storey building, situated at Number 35 Abadi Street, Sabon-Gari, Kano, caved in after a downpour in the state on Sunday evening.
Officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), who spoke to Daily Sun off the record, admitted that they had conveyed at least four dead bodies to the hospital, adding that eight others, including a policeman, were rescued alive but with various degrees of injuries.
They added that there were still trapped victims, struggling for life or suppressed under the collapsed building.
A witness, Fumilayo Oyetunde, told Daily Sun that, “Yesterday, at about six in the evening, after the rain had stopped but was drizzling, we heard a heavy noise and on looking out we saw the structure coming down.
“The ground floor of the building was actually used for shelter in normal times. But because of the rain that had flooded the whole of the street, many people had rushed in there to hold on for the rain to be over.”
She said that some of the trapped victims were site workers, water vendors, dropouts who were fond of hanging out in the street, as well as innocent passersby who were forced to break their trip for the rain to stop.
Meanwhile, Daily Sun observed that although there were several security officials and sympathisers at the tragic scene, rescue operations were very slow. The worst of all was that the heavy trucks and caterpillar, used to lift the debris, were not working as a result of lack of energy.
