city on daily basis since the raining season began.National Mirror correspondent learnt that the victims were pouring concrete on a cantilever projection on the third floor when the formwork apparently caved in, owing to poor and substandard work.It was learnt that both the survivors and the dead were hired by a contractor to do the two-day job at N3,000 per day for each worker.It gathered that one of the deceased, identified as Mike, sustained a deep cut in the chest, when he and his colleagues fell from the third floor to the ground, where they were smashed by concrete slabs.
He was said to have been rushed to the Central Hospital in Benin, where he was confirmed dead. An eyewitness said the other one allegedly gave up the ghost in hospital. Effort to confirm his identity was not successful, however, as at the time of filing this report.But a graduate of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Benin and one of the workers, Sunday Oniuvusa, who sustained injury, said he was lucky to have survived the building collapse. “Some of the blocks that fell prevented the planks on the ground from harming us; I was lucky. But in the boy’s case, there was nothing to protect him so one of the planks pierced his chest,” he said.The work supervisor, Mr. Morris Omoregie, who allegedly absolved himself from the poor work that led to the collapse, which he blamed on a different contractor, noted that the remains of the deceased had been deposited in a mortuary, while those injured were still receiving treatment.“I am directly involved because I lost someone. I called them to place the concrete and their form work collapsed. The form work was supposed to hold everything until 21 days. They are my persons. I am the one handling their medical bills so far,” he explained to Sunday Mirror at the hospital.
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