One person has been confirmed dead while four others were rescued after an uncompleted four-storey hotel building collapsed at Independence Layout in Enugu State.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday, trapping workers who were reportedly staying at the construction site.
The building, said to contain more than 100 rooms, had reached the fourth floor when part of the structure suddenly gave way.
One of the workers was reportedly sleeping on a bench within the premises when the building collapsed and was later found dead beneath the rubble.
The collapse also severely damaged the portion of the structure that remained standing, raising concerns that additional people could still be trapped underneath the debris.
Emergency responders, however, arrived at the scene and commenced rescue operations, leading to the recovery of four people alive from the rubble. The survivors were evacuated to the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital for medical treatment.
As of Sunday afternoon, rescue operations were still ongoing, with four excavators deployed by the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority (ECTDA) to clear the rubble and search for possible survivors or additional victims.
Speaking at the scene, the Executive Chairman of ECTDA, Uche Anya, said preliminary findings indicated that the developer allegedly failed to comply with approved building regulations.
Anya explained that the property was approved in 2021, before the current administration, but subsequent inspections allegedly revealed serious structural integrity concerns and deviations from the approved plans.
According to him, ECTDA had issued a stop-work order and sealed the property about six months ago over the alleged violations.
He said emergency responders arrived at the scene around 6:00 a.m., after being informed that six people had slept in the uncompleted building, although one person was reportedly absent when the structure collapsed.
The ECTDA chairman said four people had been rescued and taken to hospital, while rescue teams continued searching because of the possibility that another person could still be trapped beneath the debris.
Anya added that he had personally led an earlier inspection of the property, during which the agency identified what he described as “serious integrity issues” and breaches of the 2021 approval.
He further disclosed that the representative of the owner, who reportedly resides abroad, had been engaging with the agency in recent weeks over the identified violations.
The representative was subsequently handed over to the police to assist with investigations into the circumstances surrounding the collapse.
Meanwhile, the Director of the Enugu State Fire Service, Okwudiri Oha, commended the coordinated response by emergency agencies and security personnel at the scene.
He listed the Red Cross, Enugu State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), ECTDA, Enugu State Ambulance Services, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and other responders among those involved in the rescue operation.
Oha said rescue teams initially established that six people were expected to be at the site, although one had reportedly left before the collapse.
He explained that four people were initially rescued, with two sustaining minor injuries, while another person was subsequently recovered from the rubble.
The NEMA Information Officer in Enugu, Ezeani Nnanyelugo, also confirmed that four survivors had been taken to hospital and stabilised, while one body had been recovered from the scene.
Nnanyelugo noted that the incident could have resulted in a higher number of casualties, particularly as the property had previously been sealed by the state government.
The Executive Secretary of SEMA, Chinasa Mbah, assured that rescue operations would continue until the entire site had been thoroughly excavated to establish whether anyone remained trapped beneath the collapsed structure.
Authorities are expected to continue investigations into the cause of the collapse, including the alleged building regulation violations and the circumstances surrounding work at the property despite the reported sealing order.
