𝑬𝒏𝒖𝒈𝒖 𝑩𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒑𝒔𝒆 𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝑭𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒅, 𝑭𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒆𝒅

A four-storey building under construction in Enugu came crashing down early Sunday morning, trapping six people inside and sparking a frantic rescue operation that saved four lives while leaving one person's fate still unknown at press time.

The structure, an unfinished hotel project in the city's Independence Layout neighbourhood, gave way just before dawn. Residents who rushed to help said things could have turned out far worse had the state government not already flagged the building as unsafe and shut it down months earlier.

At the scene, Barr. Uche Anya, who heads the Enugu Capital Territory Development Agency, told reporters the tragedy stemmed from a builder who repeatedly brushed aside safety rules. He explained that his agency had already closed the site down, even though the project itself had received official approval back in 2021.

Anya recounted how his team arrived at the wreckage around six in the morning, only to learn from a security guard that six workers had bedded down on the site overnight. One of them had happened to step away just before the building collapsed, sparing his life. Government rescue units swung into action almost immediately, working through the rubble to bring people out. Four of the trapped workers were pulled free and rushed to hospital for treatment, Anya said, while searchers pressed on for a sixth person believed still buried underneath.

He went on to explain that although the building had been cleared for construction years earlier, under an entirely different administration, his agency had since introduced routine checks on ongoing projects across the state. When his team inspected the site personally, they uncovered troubling structural weaknesses and discovered the builders had strayed far from what their original approval permitted.

Anya said he was the one who issued the first order halting work on the project, and because the violations persisted, the site had remained sealed off for close to six months. He added that over the past month, someone acting on behalf of the building's owner, said to be living outside the country, had been engaging with his office to try to fix the problems and get the project back on track. That process was still ongoing when the building fell. Anya confirmed he has since handed this representative over to police, though he stressed this was to support the ongoing investigation rather than to lock the man up. He described the whole affair as a painful and avoidable tragedy.

The Director of Enugu State's Fire Service, Engr. Okwudiri Oha, commended how quickly and smoothly different emergency teams pulled together once the alarm was raised. He singled out the Red Cross, the state's Emergency Management Agency, the Capital Territory Development Agency, ambulance services, the National Emergency Management Agency, police officers, and civil defence personnel for their swift teamwork, backed by heavy machinery like bulldozers and excavators that helped clear the debris fast enough to save lives.

Oha described how, upon reaching the scene, his officers first questioned the security guard to get a clear picture of how many people were missing. Once they confirmed six had been on site, with just one having left beforehand, the search began in earnest. Four survivors were eventually freed, two of them with only light injuries, and all were sent off to hospital for proper medical checks. Rescue teams kept digging afterward and eventually pulled out a fifth individual, though Oha said it would take doctors at the hospital to determine whether the person had survived.

Confirming the same details, Mr. Ezeani Nnanyelugo, the National Emergency Management Agency's information officer in Enugu, said his team's assessment lined up with what other officials reported: six people were expected on site, one was absent when disaster struck, and the remaining four were successfully rescued, hospitalised, and are now said to be in stable condition. He echoed the widespread view that the state's earlier decision to seal off the unsafe building had likely prevented an even greater loss of life.

Nnanyelugo confirmed that rescuers had since pulled a fifth body from the rubble, which was taken straight to hospital so doctors could determine whether the person was alive or had died in the collapse.

As night fell on Enugu, questions still lingered over the identity and condition of that fifth person, even as police began digging into the circumstances that led a building already flagged as dangerous, and legally sealed off, to come crashing down regardless.