Nigerian church collapses, 160 killed, director of hospital says
WARRI, NIGERIA — Mortuaries overflowed with bodies Sunday from a church collapse in southern Nigeria that killed at least 160 people, and worshippers said construction of the building had been rushed.
Hundreds had been inside the Reigners Bible Church International in the city of Uyo on Saturday for the consecration of founder Akan Weeks as its bishop when the metal girders fell and the corrugated iron roof caved in.
S c r e a m i n g s u r v i v o r s st re amed out amid c r ie s from the injured inside.
“There were trapped bodies, parts of bodies, blood all over the place and people’s handbags and shoes scattered,” computer analyst Ukeme Eyibio said.
Officials feared the death toll could rise.
Weeks and Akwa Ibom state Gov. Udom Emmanuel were among the survivors.
Eyibio had parked his car outside the complex to make a phone call when he heard a deafening crash and saw that under a girder. the church had disappeared. “I rushed to my car, got
He and three others dragged out the tire jack and used 10 injured people from an that to get the beam off his overflow area for worshiplegs,” the 27-year-old said pers just outside the collapsed by telephone. church. They did not enter “We managed to get him the main structure because a out, but we saw others dying construction worker warned all around us,” he added. it was not safe. “I’m so traumatized I could
The worker called his boss not sleep last night for the at Julius Berger construction horrors repeating themselves company, which sent a crane in my mind.” to help lift debris off bodies. Mortuaries in Uyo were
While they waited for the overwhelmed by the disascrane, Eyibio helped a man ter, medical director Etete whose legs were trapped Peters of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital said.
Many of the dead were taken to private mortuaries scattered across the city, youth leader Edikan Peters said. Some people were taking the bodies of relatives to their homes because of the overcrowding.
Peters said he counted 90 bodies removed from the church before he was told to stop his tally Saturday night. Journalists also said that church officials sought to prevent them from documenting the tragedy, trying to seize cameras and forcing some to leave the area.
The church had been still u n d e r c o n s t r u c t i o n a n d workers had been rushing to finish it in time for Saturday’s ceremony, congregants said. The governor’s spokesman, Ekerete Udoh, said the state government will inves- tigate if any building standards were compromised.
Buildings collapse often in Nigeria because of endemic corruption, with contractors using substandard materials and bribing inspectors to ignore shoddy work or a lack of permits.
In 2014, 116 people died when a multistory guesth o u s e o f t h e Sy n a go g u e Church of All Nations collapsed in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city.r T.B. Joshua.
Two structural engineers, Joshua and church trustees were accused of criminal negligence and involuntary manslaughter after a coroner found the building collapsed from structural failures caused by design and detailing errors. Efforts to bring them to court have been foiled by repeated legal challenges.