A teenager, who would have been one of the victims, escaped death by a whisker as he went to watch the final of the UEFA Europa Cup between Benfica and Chelsea when the incident occurred.
The building was still under construction at the time of the collapse.
A source alleged that it was constructed with inferior materials. The owner of the building is said to be a well-known building materials dealer in the state.
The source said a family of four, squatting in the uncompleted building, was also involved in the incident, with the man and his two children dying. The mother reportedly survived and is receiving treatment at the Intensive Care Unit of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia.
One of the workers at the site, Johnson Ekpukete, claimed that the materials used in building the house were of high quality, but that the builders were not competent, as pillars were not included in the structure of the building.
Ekpukete, a Cameroonian, said he began work at the site last week for re-enforcement and structuring of the building, which was identified by the owner to be defective.
He added that he was saved from untimely death because he went to buy food when the building collapsed.
Said he: “Although the materials used were of high quality, the former engineer did not exhibit expertise in handling the project, as the concretes were poorly mixed and the re-enforcement poorly spaced, which I am sure led to the collapse.”
One of the neighbours, who preferred anonymity, decried the poor materials used in building the house.
He said the concretes used in the building were poorly mixed and that the owner of the house kept changing the builders.
He alleged that the engineers called to handle the building rejected the offer, which made the owner to use bricklayers.
When The Nation visited the site of the collapsed building, rescue workers were bringing out some of the victims under the debris, who were taken to the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia. The bodies of the deceased have been deposited at the mortuary.
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