There was palpable apprehension in the Umumbi Autonomous Community in Ukwa West Local Government Area of Abia State as five persons working at a construction site were said to have been trapped under a three-storey building.
The three storey was said to have collapsed on them Friday afternoon as the workers were working in the building.
It was gathered that three carpenters working on the roof survived the building collapse.
The three workers were said to be plastering the ground floor when the building collapsed on them.
Two of the workers under the rubble were said to be blood brothers who just arrived at the construction site yesterday to begin work today, only for them to be trapped less than 8 hours after they began work on the site.
The owner of the building is said to be outside the country while the project is being supervised by his siblings.
A building expert, Engr. Chinedu Okwara said the collapse of the building may not be unconnected with the use of substandard materials and the inability of the owner of the building to use the services of a qualified and certified building engineer.
The chairman of Ukwa West Local Government Area, Newman Azu, in a telephone interview confirmed the collapse of the building.
Azu, who disclosed that he was already on the site with his team, said that arrangements were ongoing to bring heavy-duty equipment to the scene to begin excavation as quickly as possible to see how they could rescue those trapped in the rubble.
