A family of six narrowly escaped death following the collapse of a two-storey building at Amawbia bypass, Awka South Local Government Area.
It was gathered that the building owned by one Anene, totally collapsed on a residential building and a shop around 11:PM on Wednesday night, June 2.
Amongst the six members of the family, four sustained minor injuries while two were seriously injured and currently receiving medical attention in a hospital.
It was further learnt that properties and goods worth over a million naira were destroyed due to the incident
The head of the family, Mr. Augustine Ikeji, who spoke to the Anambra Broadcasting Service, ABS, thanked God for saving his wife and children especially his 2-year-old daughter, who was buried by the debris.
On her part, the landlady of the affected residential building, Mrs. Amaka Okonkwo, a widow and the shop owner, whose goods were trapped by the collapsed building, Mr. Sunday Nwaezi blamed the incident on substandard materials, unveiling that the building started to give signs of collapse before its completion.
A tenant, Lady Ogechukwu Ndu frowned at the action of the collapsed building owner, whom she said absconded on hearing the incident, appealed to the state government to take action against him to serve as a deterrent to other substandard builders.
Speaking during his visit to the scene of the incident, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Awka Capital Territory Development Authority, ACTDA, Venerable Amaechi Okwuosa described it as unfortunate, and disclosed that the building was built without adequate approval from ASUDEB.
Okwuosa, who revoked the ownership of the land said, it now belongs to Anambra State Government as contained in relevant sections of the state laws on building collapse.
Nigerians need to stop risking the lives of innocent citizens because they want to cut costs while building houses.