By Adesina Soyooye
A monumental tragedy, early Monday evening, hit Owerri, the Imo state capital.
An eight-storey building, still under construction, collapsed, trapping, at least, 40 people. At the time of writing this, five people have been pulled out of the rubble, with one of them confirmed dead. The others were rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri.
Located along the Yar’adua Drive, New Owerri, it is said to be a hotel and, has been under constuction for years. It was billed to be the biggest hotel in Owerri, comparable, in size, only to the very run-down, and raped Imo Concorde Hotel, built by the administration of the late former Governor Sam Mbakwe.
The cause of the sudden collapse is not yet known, but a high profile Quantity Surveyor, who spoke to the magazine, said it wouldn’t go beyond cutting corners.
Neither the identity of the owner, not the contractor was known yet, but the site is swarming with a sea of people, including the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, CP Dan Okoro, rtd, other government officials, and the Police, all frantically searching for survivors.
Details, later.
