Seven construction workers have been rescued from the rubble of a three-storey building that collapsed on Saturday at Aboga along the Igwuruta-Etche road in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The building, which was under construction, caved in at about 1:30 pm, leaving seven of the nine workers present at the site with varying degrees of injuries.

Thankfully, no fatalities were recorded in the incident, which marks the fourth building collapse in the state within the last three months.

Emergency responders and local authorities swiftly moved to the scene to rescue those trapped.

A source who spoke with The Nation, said, “Getting here I saw the building collapsing, while some of the workers were able to jump out others could not as the building collapsed on them.

“They were able to rescue everybody but many were injured, the last person was rescued towards the night with serious injuries, he was rushed to the Hospital in an ambulance.”

Another source also said, “I heard a loud sound while I was in the house, when I rushed out I saw the building collapsing, some persons from this area and passersby started using axe to break through the debris to rescue the victims before the Government and Police came to join the rescue effort.”

The rescue was reportedly made possible through the joint effort of people from the neighbourhood, the authority of Ikwerre Local Government Area and officials of the Rivers State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development as well as the Ministry of Special Duties, which deployed excavators, fire truck and an ambulance for the rescue operation.

The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Evans Bipi confirmed the development in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Emeka Kalu.

He said it was unfortunate beginning the year with incident of building collapse and attributed it to the use of substandard materials by the developer.

He said, “It is unfortunate that we are beginning the year with this tragic incident, though no life was loss. This is the 4th building collapse we are witnessing in the State since I assumed office.

“Preliminary investigation at the scene of the incident shows that the building may have collapsed due to the use of substandard materials by the builder.

“Specifically, the use of 12mm rods for decking a building is a clear violation of construction standards. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident, as similar cases of building collapses in the State have been linked to the same cause – the use of inferior materials.”

Bipi also accused the developer of building without government-approved plan.

He said the Ministry had sealed the property pending investigation into the cause of the collapse and had asked the property owner to report to the Ministry for investigation.

He said: “As a government we are not happy with the repeated causes of building collapse in the State that have claimed life, injured several persons and caused avoidable damages and losses to developers in the State.

“Let me warn that we will no longer condone a situation where some builders will continue to violate the building code including building without government-approved building plan and compromising safety standards by using substandard materials in a bid to save cost.”

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