A four-storey building under construction and reportedly being developed as a hotel has collapsed in Enugu City, leaving a construction worker feared trapped beneath the rubble as at press time.
The incident occurred on Sunday morning, September 13, 2026, at Independence Layout, triggering panic among residents and passersby as emergency responders and local residents rushed to the scene to search for the trapped workers.
According to the Executive Chairman of the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority, Uche Anya, who spoke to newsmen, the collapse occurred by 5am today. The workers were reportedly sleeping inside the uncompleted building when the structure suddenly gave way, bringing down a huge portion of the building and burying those inside.
Anya noted that he and his team arrived at the scene 10 minutes after the collapse, adding that four of the workers have so far been rescued and were receiving treatment at the hospital.
He disclosed that one of the six workers believed to have been sleeping at the site had left the building shortly before the collapse.
Eyewitnesses said the impact of the collapse produced a loud sound that attracted hundreds of people to the area, with residents joining emergency personnel in efforts to locate and rescue the victims.
The extensive debris from the collapsed structure has, however, made the rescue operation difficult as emergency workers continue to search through the rubble.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Nigerian Red Cross Society, Enugu State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Enugu State Capital Territory Development Authority, men of the Federal Road Safety Corps, and the Police are currently involved in the rescue operation.
While rescue efforts are ongoing at the site, Anya revealed that the approval for the building was given in 2021, before the administration of Gov. Peter Mbah in 2023.
He added that when he led a team to inspect the building after he assumed office, “we found out that there are serious integrity issues and serious non-compliance with their 2021 approval”, stressing that he personally issued the first ‘stop work’ order for the building and sealed it for the last 6 months.
He further revealed that in the last thirty to forty days, the representative of the owner had been interfacing with his office to remedy the situation before the collapse.
Expressing hope that the worker trapped will be rescued, he informed that the representative of the owner had been arrested to aid investigations.
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