A six-story building under construction has collapsed in Rivers State, Nigeria. The collapse occurred along Odili Road in Port Harcourt, the state capital, on Wednesday morning.
According to accounts from the scene, the incident happened at approximately 9.30 a.m., turning a quiet Wednesday morning into chaos. A witness in the area described hearing a very loud sound coming from the building before it came down.
Emergency responders moved in to search the rubble. According to a correspondent's report from the scene, rescuers pulled four people from the wreckage.
Of those pulled out, one person was confirmed dead, while three others remain hospitalised and are receiving urgent medical care. The figures remain preliminary as the operation continues.
The engineer of the property was also said to have been trapped in the building at the time of the collapse, according to those at the scene.
Authorities have warned that more victims may still be buried beneath the debris. Rescuers fear that more individuals remain trapped, and rescue operations were still ongoing at the site.
Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara later visited the scene of the incident and ordered the immediate sealing of the site of the collapsed building along Odili Road. He banned any further activities at the location and directed that the site remain sealed while investigations into the cause of the collapse continue.
The governor described the collapse as unfortunate and expressed sympathy to the victims. He stressed that the central issue was the loss of life, saying it was very regrettable that such an incident should happen in this century given how far technology and engineering have advanced, and he questioned how any engineer could allow such a project to proceed.
Fubara said the site does not fall under the direct jurisdiction of the Rivers State government but under the control of the federal housing authority. According to him, the developer had repeatedly claimed that the state government lacked the authority to interfere in the project, and he added that the authorities had separately inspected the project during construction to check the level of compliance.
The rescue work at the Odili Road site was slowed by the structure itself. Emergency responders spent much of the day clearing debris and cutting away iron, but a cracked lift shaft left standing obstructed access to the sections where more people were believed to remain trapped, and some of the heavy equipment needed to bring it down had yet to arrive. The latest operation ended without any additional victims being recovered from the rubble.
An official from the Federal Ministry of Works in Rivers State who visited the scene said that notices would be issued to occupants of adjoining buildings to pave the way for the demolition of obstructing structures, including the lift shaft. The step is intended to let rescue teams gain access to the remaining sections of the collapsed building, with excavators and other equipment to be deployed to clear the site before the shaft is pulled down.