Two escape unhurt, five others injured as storey building collapses in Niger

Niger State Government has disclosed that no life was lost to the Friday’s collapsed storey building at Kasuwan Gwari market, Sabon Gari area of Minna, the state capital.

The government stated  this while speaking through the Director General, Niger State Emergency Management Agency( NSEMA), Alhaji Abdullahi Baba Arah, in a press statement signed by  the Public Relations Officer of the agency, Malam Ibrahim Huseini.

The DG said, “Five people were rescued with varying degrees of injuries, while  two others escaped  from the collapsed building unhurt.

“We received a distress call at about 3:15 pm on Friday of a building collapse at Sabon Gari area of Minna.  The agency’s officials  quickly alerted  responding agencies for search and rescue operations. The search and rescue operations were conducted under the leadership of NSEMA,  National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Niger State Urban Development Board, and State Environmental Protection Agency (NISEPA) in conjunction with the state Command of the Federal  Fire service, the police, NSCDC, NDLEA, the Red Cross,  Vigilant groups and some other  volunteers.”

The statement added that as of the time of filing this report on Friday , no life was lost at the scene of the ill-fated collapsed one-storey building, stressing that only   five people were rescued  with varying degrees of injuries, while two people escaped on hurt.

“An excavator was brought in by NSEMA to help in clearing the debris with the view to look for possible victims of entrapment. NEMA also brought life detecting gadgets, but after intensive searching for about 3 hours, no one was trapped,” the statement added.

The DG further stated that after the search and rescue operations,  it was discovered that the one -storey building was initially constructed by the yet-to-be-identified landlord for residential purposes, but was  later converted to a warehouse.

“The owner has no approval from relevant authorities for a change of purpose, and it was also poorly constructed with some  substandard materials. The warehouse was full to the brim with assorted  soft drinks of about 25 truck loads, which overpowered the structure that led to its collapse,” the NSEMA Boss maintained.

Meanwhile, the State Urban Development Board was said to have ordered for complete demolition of the structure, which was supposed to be effected Saturday morning. 

He however assured that the Agency (NSEMA) is already handling the situation of the collapsed building  and the victims were taken to hospital for treatment.