Two people were on Thursday confirmed dead following injuries they sustained when a storey building under construction in the Eweta area of Ikirun, Osun State, collapsed.
The deceased and two others were said to be working in the building Wednesday evening when it collapsed and trapped them.
A resident simply identified as Lateef, during an interview with PUNCH Metro, said the victims were evacuated by some residents who rushed to the scene.
He said the building owner and one woman among the victims died while on admission at the hospital.
He said, “Some minutes to 7pm on Wednesday, we heard a loud noise from a construction site in our area and people rushed to the scene.
“When we got there, we saw that a storey building under construction had collapsed and search-and-rescue started immediately. We evacuated four people from the rubble, three females and a male. We learnt they were working in the building when the incident occurred.
“The victims were taken to a hospital here in Ikirun. All of them were in critical condition. But this morning (Thursday), we were told that two of the victims died.”
When contacted, the spokesperson for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in the state, Kehinde Adeleke, confirmed the incident.
Adeleke added that though the building was still under construction, it was already being used as a church.
She said, “A storey building being used as a church collapsed yesterday (Wednesday) around 6.45pm. The church building is in the Eweta community in Ikirun.
“Our officer that visited the scene said the affected building was still under construction and some workers were working inside it when collapsed.
“Four people were trapped under the rubble. They were later evacuated and taken to a nearby hospital. Three women and a man were evacuated.
“As of this morning, Thursday, two of the victims have died. One of the deceased was the owner of the building.”
Meanwhile, a man identified simply as Seun has escaped narrowly after a building in the Old Bank area of the Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State collapsed on Wednesday.
PUNCH Metro gathered that although no casualties were recorded, the stairs of the collapsed building fell on the victim, who was trapped for hours before being rescued.
An eyewitness who spoke with PUNCH Metro revealed that the building had been distressed for a long time before it finally caved in around 5.20pm.
Speaking on the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Omolola Odutola, who confirmed the incident to PUNCH Metro on Thursday, said the victim was receiving treatment.
“The man is responding to treatment at a hospital. The place has been cordoned off. We have also reached out to the local government authority to seal the place off,” Odutola told our correspondent in a WhatsApp chat.
