There was pandemonium at the Iriebe Community, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State on Tuesday morning when a three-storey building under construction collapsed.
At the time of filing this report, no casualty had been reported but it was gathered that workers had resumed work on the site when the incident happened
The Chairman of Obio/Akpor LGA, Amb. Chijioke Ihunwo has visited the site of the collapsed building.
According to a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the chairman, Ofonime Okon, it was not certain if there were human casualties under the rubble when the Ihunwo visited but he (Chairman) has ordered immediate closure of the site.
“Ambassador Chijioke Ihunwo while expressing sadness over the loss asked the owner (yet unknown) of the property to report to his office on Wednesday alongside his site engineer for questioning.
“The collapse is quite unfortunate and as a local government, we have closed down this site with immediate effect and instructed the owner of the building to furnish us with the necessary building approval from the Ministry of Urban Development. For now, we cannot ascertain if someone is under the rubble.
“The Executive Chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Ambassador Chijioke Ihunwo also questioned the quality of materials used in the construction.
“Ambassador Chijioke Ihunwo also indicated plans to work with the Rivers State Ministry of Urban Development to ascertain if the ministry approved the building plan,” Okon said.
