Anambra Building Collapse: Workers Trapped as Structure Crumbles
By: Abudu Olalekan
Thursday. 11:40 AM. Awka. Sun beating down. Then—boom. Just gone. Like sandcastles washed by tide. No warning. Just dust. Panic everywhere. People running. Screaming. My heart sank watching it.
The building? Behind the State House of Assembly. Off Ekwueme Square. Still under construction. Roofing stage. Workers on top. Suddenly, nothing. Just rubble. Concrete dust choking the air. You could taste it.
Eyewitnesses froze. “We heard cracking sounds,” one said, voice shaking. “Then everything went dark.” Nobody knows how many trapped. No one saw the collapse coming. Just silence. Then chaos.
Rescue crews arrived fast. But no excavators. Just shovels. Bare hands. Frustrating as hell. People kept shouting “Dig deeper!” But what could they do? Hands against concrete? No equipment. Nothing.
COREN officials showed up soon after. Sir Victor Meju, their chairman, looked tired. “Three-storey building. Four suspended floors,” he said. “Poor concrete mix. Foundation problems. That’s our guess.” He sighed. “Vertically complete collapse. Everything just fell straight down.”
But ACTDA? They’re saying something else entirely. “No one trapped,” their media head, Ukpa Ewa, insisted. “No life lost. Just preliminary checks ongoing.” Really? Then why all the commotion? Families waiting outside. Crying. Shouting names. “My brother was inside!” one woman yelled. “Where’s the help?”
Police? SP Tochukwu Ikenga said he “wasn’t aware.” Promised to check. Classic. Meanwhile, ACTDA urged calm. “Don’t spread unverified info,” they said. But how? When the dust hasn’t settled? Literally.
The scene was raw. Workers’ tools scattered. Hard hats buried under slabs. A single boot lying alone. Chilling. Rescue teams kept moving rubble by hand. Slow. Painful. No heavy machinery. Just hope. And fear.
COREN’s report felt official. Concrete mix issues. Foundation flaws. But ACTDA’s denial? It didn’t sit right. “No trapped persons?” one local muttered. “Then why’s the whole street blocked?”
Truth is, nobody knows for sure. Not yet. Officials arguing. Families desperate. Rescue efforts stuck. Waiting for machines that never came.
This building? Private project. Roofed last Thursday. Now? Ruins. People asking why. Who’s responsible? No answers. Just dust. And silence.
ACTDA claims no casualties. But witnesses? They saw workers on the roof. Before it fell. How many? Still unknown. Conflicting stories. Confusion.
The state’s building regulators say they’re investigating. But right now? It’s a waiting game. For answers. For machines. For hope.
One thing’s clear: this ain’t over. Not yet.
