Scores wounded as hotel collapses in Delta (Photo)
No fewer than seven persons, including a female police
officer and ADC to the First Lady of a northern state (names withheld),
were injured in the wee hours of Wednesday, when the popular Mekaval Hotel located in Effurun-Warri, Delta State collapsed.
It was gathered that the collapse hotel was similar to the
collapse
of the Synagogue of All Nation Church in Lagos, as the victims were
mostly indigenes of neighboring state who besieged the city seeking
salvation at the Christ Mercy Land Church, headed by Pastor Jeremiah
Fufeyin, popularly called ‘Ijaw TB Joshua’ by followers.
Although the cause of the collapse was yet unknown at the time of
this report Wednesday, the Deputy Governor of the state, Mr Kingsley
Otuaro, a lawyer and deacon, hinted of possible structural defect.
Otuaro, who raced to the scene of the incident at about 10:45am,
immediately ordered the closure of the hotel buildings, as well as the
standing two-storey main wing of the hotel, as a precautionary measure
to avert further loss of lives.
He said, “The state government has ordered that the hotel be closed
immediately to avert further loss of lives. We are going to send
engineers straight away.
“It is very possible that there have been some structural defect ab
initio during construction works because that place seems to be a
waterlogged area and maybe the proper engineering works were not done.”
Otuaro spoke with newsmen at the Divine Grace Clinic, where five of
the victims, including a pair of brothers and three females were being
treated, decried the incident and described it as devastating.
He laments the devastation and trauma suffered by some of the lodgers
at the hotel, including a lady from Bayelsa simply identified as
Evangelist Florence, who spent over seven hours under rubles of the
collapsed hotel.
While stressing that it wasn’t time for bulk-passing, the Deputy
Governor assured that competent engineers were on their way to the site
to assess the immediate and remote causes of the building collapse.
He commended public-spirited individuals and organizations like the
Red Cross which promptly responded to distress call and assured that the
state government would pick up the medical bills of the victims some of
whom were being treated at the nearby Divine Grace Clinic.
Otuaro, who also visited five of the victims, thanked God for their
safe evacuation from the scene and assured them of the support of the
state government.
He advised inhabitants of buildings close to the scene to evacuate
them pending examination by professional to ascertain the state of the
structures.
Nevertheless, The Nation independent check revealed that the victims of Wednesday disaster
were mainly religious pilgrim from outside the state, who were in
Effurun for a church programme organized by Pastor Fufeyin
The ADC to the northern state First Lady, who was simply identified as Adeza, told Otuaro that she hit the city from Abuja on Tuesday afternoon in search of solution to some family problem.
The lady, who hails from Agbede, Edo state said, “I am a Muslim, but I
came here to see the man of God. Only recently I lost my elder brother
who was in the Army and so many things had been happening in my family.
So I came here for prayers.”
The lady, who occupied Room 206 before the unfortunate incident, said
at the time of her rescue she was still hearing voices from under the
rubles from the collapsed hotel building, hinting that more people could
still be trapped underground.
Her view with contrary to those expressed that by the hotel
management that the seven recorded lodgers had all been rescued alive at
about 11am on Wednesday.
Speaking in the same vein, another victim, who simply identified
herself as Evangelist Florence, told our reporter that she came from
Yenagoa, Bayelsa state for the church’s programme.
“Immediately I got into town I went to the mountain for prayers. It was after the prayer that I came to Mekaval.
“As I was sleeping, at about 2am I
heard a sound creaking sound and everything came down, I tried to
unlock my door but I couldn’t; it seemed like the door was locked
outside. I was under the ground till about 7am when I was rescue,” she added.
The Nation
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