Seven persons were rescued when a three-storey building under construction at Aboga along the Igwuruta-Etche Road in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State caved in.

Eyewitnesses said the incident occurred at about 1:30 pm on Saturday while workers were on the site.

Though no life was lost, it was said that seven of the nine workers who were working in the building were rescued with various degrees of injuries, while two of them jumped off the building.

One of the eyewitnesses said, “Getting here, I saw the building collapsing. While some of the workers were able to jump out, others could not as the building collapsed on them.

Another eyewitness who did not want his name in print said, “I heard a loud sound while I was in the house; when I rushed out, I saw the building collapsing. Some persons from this area and passersby started using axes to break through the debris to rescue the victims before the government and police came to join the rescue effort”.

The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Emeka Kalu, confirmed the incident in a statement on Sunday afternoon.

Kalu, while describing the incident as unfortunate, said that aside from the initial rescue efforts by residents in the neighbourhood, the authority of the Ikwerre Local Government Area and officials of the Rivers State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, as well as the Ministry of Special Duties, moved in just in time while responding to distress calls.

He said the ministries immediately deployed excavators, a fire truck, and an ambulance to ensure the timely rescue of the victims, some of whom were trapped in the rubble.