Relatives of victims in the
three-storey building collapse in Abuja have kicked against the conclusion of
rescue efforts.
Various persons protested that
they had relatives under the rubble.
The combined rescue team left the
site at 8am on Saturday.
The rescue team consisted of
officials of FCT Emergency Management Agency, firefighters and Julius Berger
company.
A three-storey shopping complex
under construction in the Jabi area of Abuja collapsed on Friday, killing one
person and leaving 12 others trapped.
People believed to be relatives
of affected persons accused the rescue officials of not doing enough to save
victims.
Some of them said that
the debris of the first floor had not been completely removed, saying there are
chances that people are still inside.
One of the protesters, who
identified himself as Mohammed, said his brother is still under the rubble, noting
that he spoke to him on phone a few minutes after the incident.
“I have a brother here. Yesterday
we called our brother and we are talking to him underground and was complaining
of the heat. But this morning, we called him but we did not get him. So the
government did not do anything and our people are under the ground,” he said.
Meanwhile, some of those at the
scene of the incident, who claimed to have rescued the initial seven victims,
said there were 18 people in the building.
Florence Wenegieme, acting deputy
director, forecasting, response and mitigation, FCT Emergency Agency Management
Authority, said officers have gone to the hospital to ascertain the number of
people who are receiving treatment and those that have died.
“As at yesterday only one person
died, for the other people they claimed that were in the building, we have been
searching since last night and we have not been able to find any corpse or
anybody alive,” she said.
“So we cannot say that there are
still people inside because we have searched right deep into the building but
we could not find anyone.”
Armed policemen have been
deployed to the site to keep the agitated relatives under control.
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