Three-Storey Building Under Construction Collapses in Anambra, Killing Mother and Daughter
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A three-storey building under construction in Ogbaru, Anambra State, collapsed onto a neighbouring bungalow, killing a woman and her 14-year-old daughter, with the state ordering the structure demolished and the land forfeited.
A woman and her 14-year-old daughter have died after a three-storey building under construction collapsed at Anata Anaba, Okpoko, in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State. The incident occurred at about 9:45 pm on Wednesday, trapping the mother and her daughter inside their apartment in a neighbouring bungalow.
Eyewitnesses said the building made a loud noise, with its walls reported to be cracking before the structure came down, throwing residents into panic. Some other people trapped in the rubble were rescued by emergency responders and taken to hospital. Residents said they had raised concerns about the construction, arguing that the waterlogged nature of the land made it unsuitable for a three-storey building, and that the engineer who initially handled the project had advised limiting it to two floors before another engineer was engaged to continue to three storeys.
The collapse killed the landlady of the neighbouring bungalow and her youngest child, according to the report. Her son, identified as Chimobi, said three members of the family were in the apartment when the building came down; he said his mother and sister were in the bedroom and had no opportunity to escape, and that residents had warned the builder about the danger and called for the construction to be stopped.
Confirming the incident, Anambra State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development Chijioke Ojukwu described it as unfortunate and blamed the collapse on the use of substandard materials, saying the authorities had previously issued a stop-work notice on the building. “The structure was an illegal building and we had ordered its demolition and the land is going to be forfeited to the state government. We are investigating other unapproved buildings under construction in the area,” he said, adding that the building collapsed under the weight of negligence and poor-quality construction.
Ojukwu visited the scene alongside the member representing Ogbaru One Constituency in the Anambra State House of Assembly, Noble Igwe. The incident follows a September collapse in Lagos State, where one person was killed and two others rescued after a two-storey building undergoing manual demolition came down in the Aboru area of Alimosho Local Government Area, according to the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency.