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Ten people have been confirmed dead and seven survivors rescued after a seven-storey building collapsed in the Sierra Leonean capital, Freetown.
The National Disaster Management Agency, NDMA, which is conducting the ongoing rescue operations at the rubble of the building on Shell New Road, said so far, but “more people remain trapped”.
It further said some of the trapped victims had been “able to communicate their locations” to the rescuers.
The NDMA said the tragic building, which was located in Eastern Freetown collapsed between 11:00 and 12:00 local time (12:00 and 13:00 BST) on Monday, adding that two girls and a boy all aged under five, are among the victims.
Two cranes have been brought in to help the rescue teams, who were earlier seen using picks and their bare hands to try to clear the wreckage.
The building was used for both residential and commercial purposes, according to initial assessments conducted by the NDMA.
The cause of the collapse is still under investigation.
Brima Sesay, head of the NDMA, stated the need to raise public awareness about the dangers of using unqualified contractors and substandard building materials.
“We will continue conducting vulnerability assessments to help reduce the frequency of building collapses across the country,” Sesay said.
Local resident Mohamed Camara wept as he told AFP news agency that his wife and three children were trapped in the rubble.
Sierra Leone is one of the world’s poorest countries, and buildings are often built with substandard materials.
Added to this is the use of quack builders or engineers and poor enforcement of building regulations by compromised officials.
This has been a major menace in the African continent where building collapse is a frequent occurrence, resulting in the deaths and destruction of properties.
On May 6, this year, 33 people died when an uncompleted building collapsed in South Africa.
One of the survivors, Armando Xhosa, was trapped under two slabs of concrete for around 20 hours after the collapse of the building in George before rescue workers freed him. He has vowed never to go back to a construction site.
According to him: “I had just answered my phone, and I didn’t see what happened. Suddenly, the slabs of concrete were going down. I tried to run to the sliding door, but the building collapsed.” recalled Xhosa.
