Panic as three-storey building collapses in Enugu

A three-storey building under construction has collapsed in Enugu State.

The building, which was located at Ezeluike Street, Olympic Layout, off One Day, Agbani Road, Awkunanaw in Enugu South Local Government Area of the state collapsed on Sunday about 8:20pm.

Although there was no casualty, The PUNCH gathered that the collapsed building had been marked for demolition by the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority since November 2019 for alleged lack of construction approval.

A staff of the ECTDA, Levi Obi, said the building could have been demolished last week but the action was suspended in compliance with the lockdown order to contain the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in the state.

It was gathered that officials of the ECTDA, Emergency Management Agency, Federal Road Safety Corps, Fire Service, and Red Cross, among others were mobilised to the scene for response operations.

The State Public Relations Officer, Daniel Ndukwe, could not confirm the incident as of the time of filing this report.

Ndukwe told our correspondent on the telephone that he was yet to get an official report about the incident.

“I have received one other call about the incident this morning. I don’t have an official report about the incident, but let me make an enquiry and I will get back to you,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Executive Chairman of ECTDA, Dr. Josef Onoh, in a statement noted that “the collapsed three-storey building had no building approval from ECTDA and was consequently marked for demolition in July and November 2019, but unfortunately, the developer continued construction in defiance of the Stop-Work order issued by our Agency”.

Onoh confirmed that no casualties were recorded. Punch