Three persons died in the early hours of Tuesday when a four-storey building collapsed in Okeani village, Oko community in Anambra State.
The building, located close to the Federal Polytechnic in Oko and owned by an Oko indigene based in Europe, collapsed after a downpour on the previous day.
The deceased, all from the northern part of the country and construction workers in the building, were asleep when the structure came down.
A neighbour Angela Ivories said part of the building which was near completion had collapsed on Monday afternoon after a downpour. This, she said, should have been enough signal for the deceased to have hurried out of the building.
“After a part of the building collapsed on Sunday, Musa suggested to his co-workers to vacate the building, but they didn’t heed his advice,” she said, adding that it was not even two hours after they were advised to vacate the building that the rest of it came down.
Confirming the incident, the State Chairman, Nigerian Red Cross society, Professor Peter Katchy, said the bodies of the deceased had been excavated from the debris.
The Anambra State Police Commissioner, Mr Sam Okaula said efforts were on to arrest the owner of the building and his site engineer.
“Two persons have been confirmed dead, and we learnt the collapse was caused by use of substandard material. We have mounted a manhunt for the owner of the building. We are making efforts to get at him and his site engineer,” he said.
