By Stanley Onyekwere
Following a building foundation collapse at an excavation site within the Radio House ,Area 8 Garki, Abuja, the FCT Emergency Management Department (FEMD) has called for strict adherence to safety regulations at construction sites, so as to avoid a repetition of such incident.
Making this call yesterday, Ag Director General of FEMD, Engr Abdulrahman Mohammed, noted the importance of professionals in the building sector and appealed to developers to shun quacks.
A statement from FEMD’s Head, Public Affairs, Nkechi Isa, noted that the incident, which occurred at about 5.50pm on Monday, resulted in the death of a 25-year-old man, who was one of the labourers at the site.
Engr. Abdulrahman, who commiserated with the family of the victim, urged residents to always use the 112 emergency toll free number in the event of a disaster.
According to the statement, the Head of the FEMD Search and Rescue Team, Mr. Monday Adie, explained that the foundation wall collapsed as the labourers were excavating about 7 feet of the underground of the building.
Adie said two people were trapped in the rubble of the collapsed Wall.
While one was rescued alive, the other person was fatally injured.
He recalled that the Federal Fire Service received a distress call of the incident at about 5.50pm and promptly mobilized to rescue the trapped persons.
Meanwhile, in a related development, FEMD commiserated with passengers on the Abuja Kaduna train ,which derailed Tuesday morning.
It disclosed that the passenger train had departed Abuja around 9.45am en route Kaduna when it derailed at about( 11.09 at 49 kilo meters between Kubwa and Asham.
It added that confirming the incident, the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) activated emergency and security services to the incident site.
FEMD leadership however, appealed to the NRC to do more in terms of security and maintenance of the trains and rail tracks, which would ensure that the rail tracks are not sabotaged.
