A woman was feared killed and  fifteen others injured in the sprawling Itoku Market, Abeokuta, Ogun State, when a four- storey market complex being constructed by the state government collapsed on Friday morning.

The incident happened at about 9 am, just about an hour after traders and workers resumed their daily businesses.

Two excavators and a crane were deployed to the scene and they dug frantically through the debris to rescue and evacuate the victims.

A signpost within the premises of the collapsed complex gave the names of the contractors as Validus Construction Services Limited and James Town Development and Hakmode Ventures Limited, while the Ogun State Ministry of Work and Infrastructure is the client.

The project is designated as: Construction of an Ultra – Modern Market Complex with Itoku (Olori – Eku side) as its location.

The injured victims have been taken to the state hospital, Ijaiye, also in the state capital.

As at 11:00am on Friday, the gate of the hospital was locked, perhaps, to convince sympathizers and others bringing in victims that it has been stretched beyond its capacity by the emergency.

Soldiers, policemen and other security agencies laboured to contain the crowd of people wailing and anxious to know the fate of their loved ones still trapped in the rubble as at noon.

Rescue workers including  personnel of the state Emergency Management Agency, Red Cross Society, State Fire Service, the state Hospital, Ijaiye, and Mercy Group Clinic – a private hospital were sighted carrying out rescue operation at the scene of the incident.

Governor Ibikunle Amosun, who was apparently weighed down by the tragedy, hurriedly arranged for a crane to speed up the search and rescue operations.

Amosun paced to and fro the  Itoku road beside the collapsed building with a public address system assuring sympathizers that efforts were being intensified to salvage the situation.

An engineer at the site who did not want his name mentioned, said there were 18 workers at the site in the morning but said nine were with him after the building collapsed.

According to the engineer, he couldn’t account for traders who take shelter there or come to the site to sell foods to the workers.

Meanwhile, the Association Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN), Ogun State chapter, have expressed shock at the incident and called for a thorough investigation into the professional integrity of the contractors handling the project.

The Chairman of APBN in the state, Mr Sola Adelakun, in a telephone conversation with reporters wondered whether an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was carried out before the project commenced.

Adelakun, said the contractors handling the project should be prosecuted if it can be established that the minimum building standard have been compromised.

The Ogun State chapter of the Unity Party of Nigeria(UPN), also called on the state government to investigate the contractors in charge of the collapsed building and bring them to justice, if found guilty.

In a statement issued in Abeokuta yesterday, the chairperson of the party in the state, Mrs. Irede Olufunmilayo Oginni, explained that the party lost one of its members in the incident.

She said:” I urge the (state) government to please tell the entire citizens of Ogun State what happened, who the contractors are and why they have not acted with due diligence. They must be brought to book.

“It should be noted that our party lost a member from ward 4, Abeokuta South Local Government in person of Mrs. Naimat Oloponda in this incident and we commiserate with her family and others affected.”

She said the collapse of the building was a disappointment adding that “Our hope was that the market though uncompleted is a solid project but what just happened proved to us all that it is not. We thank God that this occurrence had not happened when it is in use. As a mother and  wife, I felt bad when I inspected the collapsed building. I could feel the pains and tears of the victims.”

In a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Dayo Adeneye, Amosun asked the people of the state to remain calm and cooperate with the rescue team.

The governor promised that an integrity test would be conducted on the other parts of the building to determine its fitness.

Amosun said he has taken responsibility for the incident.

The governor said the state government would investigate the incident to establish the cause of the incident.

Amosun said: “I take full responsibility of what happened here, not even the Commissioner for Works can take the responsibility because when the glory comes we share it together but if anything goes wrong, I take the blame so I take full responsibility but we are going to get to the root of the matter”.

“As early as 9 o’clock in the morning, the workers were here as always, 16 all together as we are told and a little minutes after 9am we have this partial collapse of this building.

“Out of those 16, eight came out immediately the building collapsed and the remaining eight were hurriedly taken to the hospital, one unfortunately died on the way to the hospital while two were discharged immediately because they sustained minor injuries. The remaining five are still at the hospital, they also sustained minor injuries”.

“We can’t leave this place the way it is, because it is better for us to act under caution; we are not that comfortable with the way this place is and that is why we have to get to what we called ground zero and we will get there before we leave here today because we want to be sure that nobody is still trapped under the collapsed building.

“The most important thing to us is to ensure that no further lives are lost. We will leave here until we are sure that nobody is still trapped in there.

“We are going to find out the cause of the collapse. When you look at this building particularly you will discover that the topography of this side of the building is lower and that is why we have the basement here and sure the engineers and everybody else will get to the root of the matter”.

“We didn’t pray for this but we are going to double check other buildings of the State projects to determine their structural viability. We are very saddened about the fact that we lost a live, we have gotten across to the members of his family.”

Nation