Mohammed Shosanya
Four children of the same family died in a building collapse in the Agric Quarters in the Mgbemena axis of Coal Camp in Enugu.
The four siblings died when the building collapsed on them as a result of heavy rain fall in Enugu on Friday evening
A resident of the area, Mrs Nkechi Anayo described the incident as painful .
She said :”The mother of the children went to the market when the incident occurred and 6 of her children were affected but only 2 survived and they are receiving treatment in the hospital.
The Chairman of Capital Territory Development Agency (ECTDA), Mr Uche Anya, who spoke to journalists after inspecting the site of the collapsed building on Saturday, said bungalow building located at the Agric Quarters in Coal Camp area collapsed on Friday night around 8pm after a downpour.
He said the structure was approved for animal husbandry but was converted for residential.
Lamenting that the collapsed building was not healthy for human residence, the ECTDA chairman disclosed that the structure had 44 rooms with about 200 residents.
“As soon as we got the intelligence, we rushed to the place. Four children died in the episode.It was danger waiting to happen. The construction was irresponsible.
“The place should never have been occupied by human beings. In fact, go there and see.Apparently, they claim that they are doing animal husbandry and poultry there but it turned out that there are 44 rooms that human beings are occupying and there must have a population of over 200 people there.
“The fence line was totally unacceptable, nobody does that, and unfortunately, the people we lost in that tragedy are innocent children and it is very painful,” Anya added.
He said that the agency would continue to sensitise the public on the need to live a more conducive environment to avoid future occurrence of the unfortunate incident.
According to him, the compliance unit of the agency under his leadership would ensure that structures erected by landlords and contractors adhere strictly to the approval plan.
The ECTDA also gave immediate quit notice to residents of the building and four other buildings close to the scene of the incident.
