C’River Building Collapse: Govt intensifies effort to rescue trapped boy, rescues 12
From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar
The Cross River State government has intensified effort to rescue alive a young boy trapped in a collapsed building in the state capital.
The details of the boy has not been made public but he is among the thirteen persons who were working at the site of the collapsed building.
Eric Anderson, the state commissioner for information who confirmed the incident said that 13 workers were at the site before the incident but only 10 were there when it occurred as three took a break.
”The people originally working at the site were 13 but three of them took a break before the incident, so only 10 were on the ground when the building collapsed.
“We can account for the 10 persons but the security guard told us that a boy was seen at the site seconds before the collapse.
”We are here with our equipment to make sure we get to the bottom of the rubble, it is obvious that the contractor who happens to be the owner of the structure was also the site engineer and building engineer and all.
”From what we have seen so far at the site of the incident it is obvious he used substandard materials for the project. The mixtures, the blocks, and the iron rod used were all substandard.
“We are trying to get to the bottom of the rubble to make sure the boy is found, until then we will remain at site, we are also using this opportunity to let other illegal builders know that it’s no longer business as usual.
“We will ensure that nothing like this ever happens again in Calabar and Cross River as a whole,” Mr Anderson said.
The tragic incident occurred at Muri Nta Eke Street off Ikot Eyo over the weekend as workers were trying to complete the second decking of the building.
