A tragic incident happened on Wednesday night in Abuja as a multi-storey building collapsed during a heavy downpour, leading to a yet-to-be determined number of feared casualties and people trapped in the wreckage.
The building, situated on the bustling Lagos Street in Garki village area of Garki II district, crumbled under the weight of the heavy rain that began around 11:50pm late Wednesday night.
According to an eyewitness named Tanko Dabo, the collapsed building accommodated numerous apartments, while its ground floor housed several shops.
Dabo described the scene as one of chaos and helplessness, with people’s desperate cries filling the air. He mentioned that the building was fully occupied when it collapsed.
“There was wailing all over the place after the building collapsed. Dozens of people are either dead or trapped as the building was fully occupied.
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It was a scene of helplessness with people screaming and running helter-skelter, while the heavy rain continued,” Dabo told Leadership News.
Meanwhile, the former aide to the immediate-past Minister of the FCT, Ikharo Attah, shared the grim details on his Facebook page in the early hours of Thursday.
Attah informed that seven individuals had been successfully rescued and taken to the hospital, while others remained trapped within the wreckage.
He confirmed that a rescue team and other first responders were on ground at about 2am carrying out rescue operations.
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He lamented that the rescue operation was, however, slow due to the ongoing rain at the time.
“They are making frantic efforts at getting an excavator to remove people from the rubble,” Attah wrote.