Five people have been rescued from the debris of a collapsed building in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.
Josephine Adeh, the Police Public Relations Officer for the FCT Police Command, provided the update in a statement on Sunday. The incident occurred on Saturday at a building located in Vidaz Estate within the Sabon Lugbe extension of the FCT.
“Our preliminary investigations indicate that the building had previously been demolished by the FCT Authorities due to its position in an illegally acquired area,” Adeh stated. She added that the structure had been further compromised by scavengers who tampered with the remnants for scrap metal, which led to its secondary collapse.
Thankfully, five individuals were successfully rescued, and there have been no reported fatalities. Adeh urged the public to “respect the boundaries of demolished structures and construction sites to ensure safety and prevent similar incidents in the future.”
Eyewitnesses had initially reported that as many as 40 people might have been trapped in the collapsed building. This incident is not isolated, as weeks ago, a two-storey residential building also collapsed in Abuja’s Kubwa area, resulting in four rescues while an unconfirmed number were feared trapped. The Kubwa building was located near Cupid Hotel on Sultan Dasuki Way.
