A female National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, identified as Melanie, has been reportedly trapped under a two-storey building that collapsed around Kubwa axis of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The FCT incident happened hours after a school building had also collapsed in Jos, Plateau State capital, leading to death of over 22 people, while about 100 others sustained varying degrees of injuries.
The ill-fated building was said to have collapsed at about 7 am on Saturday when some occupants were still on bed.
A resident of the community, Ella Onyeke, narrated that the occupants that escaped death and injuries were those that discovered cracks on the building very early and left before it caved in.
Onyeke said that the first to discover cracks on the building was a family that left yesterday over fears that the building could collapse soon on them.
She added that others that discovered the collapsed building was already giving way alerted others but many didn’t yield.
“This morning, some of the occupants discovered that the building was tilting and they quickly left their apartment to avoid being trapped under it when it finally collapse.
“At the time of leaving they knocked on doors of other tenants but many did not respond to their alert because they were far asleep. As you are aware, many who work during the week often use Saturday to sleep and recharge their batteries for next week’s task.
“Presently, we are hoping and praying that Melanie, a Corp member, who is trapped under the rubbles of the building, is rescued unhurt”, Onyeke added.
Meanwhile, emergency responders have successfully extracted two individuals from the rubble and are working to rescue a third person trapped in a flat.
In a video shared on different social media, voices were heard saying, “There are about three ladies stuck. They have extracted two, and they are trying to extract the third person from a particular flat”.
