60 rescued from debris of Uyo’s collapsed Church
Saturday escaped unhurt as the Reigners Bible
Church International building in Uyo collapsed
during a worship session.
Sixty casualties were however rescued from
the building.
The governor was the special guest of honour
at the consecration service of the Founder of
the church, Apostle Akan Weeks, as a bishop.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports
that the Reigners Bible Church International
building, situated on Uyo Village Road, was
still under construction when it collapsed.
Its iron rafters caved in as the service was
ongoing.
A witness told NAN that the building collapsed
30 minutes after the governor arrived.
‘’When we were about taking offering, 30
minutes after the governor came in, the
building caved in. Security operatives took him
away,’’ he said.
When NAN correspondents visited the scene,
security operatives had cordoned off the entire
building while trying to rescue those trapped in
the debris.
Another witness, Miss Uduak Effiong, told NAN
that a female victim’s bowel was ripped open
by the tragedy.
Effiong, who is a communication arts student
of the University of Uyo, said that she lost
three friends to the incident.
Mr Joseph James, who also witnessed the
building collapse, told NAN that the Founder of
the church, Apostle Akan Weeks, was also
brought out unhurt.
Some rescue team members said that over 60
casualties had been removed from the debris.
However, the state Police Public Relation
Officer, ASP Cordelia Nwawe, said that she
could not confirm the casualty figure since
rescue operations were ongoing.
She said that security operatives had been
drafted to maintain law and order at the scene
to prevent hoodlums from cashing in on the
situation.
“Rescue team members are trying their best to
rescue all the victims trapped at the collapsed
building.
‘’We cannot tell you the exact number of
casualties now as the rescue operations are
on,’’ she said.
The rescue team at scene is made up of
workers of Julius Berger Construction
Company, the police, army, Fire Service,
Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps,
Nigerian Medical Association and the Federal
Road Safety Corps.
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