In what looks like a miracle, a toddler, who was trapped alongside her mother in a two-storey building that collapsed at Ekeoyibo Market, Amawbia, Anambra State, crawled out of the rubble 24 hours after the collapse.
The child, who is currently receiving medical attention in an undisclosed hospital, was spotted by onlookers and rescue team, early on Friday morning, as she crawled out of the space, signalling that her mother was still trapped in the rubble.
The miraculous survival of the toddler raised apprehension as the rescue team started operation in search of the mother who was still trapped.
It took the use of an excavator to clear the rubble and rescue operators assisted the woman to come out of the collapsed building. She was also rushed to the hospital in a waiting medical ambulance. Officials of the government said the woman and her baby were responding to treatment.
The rescue team on operation has evacuated the body of an operative of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), and a young man, suspected to be a carpenter, who was probably working on the site before the collapse, thereby taking the death toll to three.
Meanwhile, the Anambra State government has attributed cases of building collapse in the state to the refusal of contractors and developers to abide by the regulations guiding construction of high rising buildings in the state. The Head of Development Control in Awka Capital Development Agency (ACTDA), Mr. Charles Ekwunife, said most of the buildings have no approval papers. He added that staff and officials of the agency are always harassed and attacked by contractors at the sites whenever they go for inspection.
Credit: The Nigeria Lawyer