Some shop owners and their customers on Monday escaped death when a storey-building collapsed in Bukuru community, in the Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State.
A shop owner in the affected building, who did not mention his name for security reasons, said all his goods had been trapped, adding that the building was erected five years ago.
He said, “We had a supermarket in the building before it collapsed. Everything we sell there is now trapped and in ruins. The building is not an old one because it was erected about five years ago.
“We were in the building the previous day and attended to our customers until we closed for the day and there was no sign of any problem.
“But to our greatest surprise, the building collapsed in the night. But we thank God the building did not collapse when we were still in the shop with our customers.”
The General Manager, Jos Metropolitan Development Board, John Kefas, said there was no loss of life recorded in the incident.
Kefas said, “Upon arrival, we discovered that it is one of the buildings which we had earlier earmarked as unsafe and illegally constructed for which we had asked the occupants to vacate.
“But we are happy that there was no casualty. Our technical staffs are presently carrying out further investigation to establish what actually happened that led to the collapse of the building.”
Contact: theeditor[at]punchng.com
