Update: Collapse Church: No casualties, many injured, hospitalized –Delta SSG

The Secretary to Delta State Government, Chief Patrick Ukah said that against the report in the section of the media, no person reportedly died from the Salvation Ministries church collapsed building in Okpanam Road, Asaba, Oshimili North Local Government Area of the state.

Chief Ukah, while speaking to a team of journalists at the scene of the building collapse, said that why many worshipers sustained injuries, with three of them in critical condition, no death was recorded as rescue efforts gradually comes to an end.

According to the SSG, he said: “To God be the glory, we arrived here on time, you can see that the various agencies are here, the Commissioner of Police is here, and the ministry of works was able to move in with payloader and tractor.

So far, we don’t have any casualty but we have a lot of injured people and can tell you that 18 of them were taken to Asha hospital and the doctors there were very helpful, and about three of them are very critical.

“What we are trying to do is a mop-up, we are still at the scene. We want to make sure that nothing is left there, if not we are getting to the end of it.

Chief Ukah stated further that though he couldn’t give names of the survivors, because some parents left their children at the church, he is very sure that most of the children have reunited with their families.

He, however, enjoined parents who couldn’t trace their children to visit the hospital where most of the injured victims of the collapse were taken to for medical attention.

He added that by Wednesday town planning and other government approving agencies will investigate the possible cost of the collapse, stressing that with the noticeable ongoing reconstruction in the building, there are a lot of questions to be answered, if indeed approval was given for the work.

Recall that Advocate.ng reports that 10 persons died from the building which caved in during church service at about 5:55 p.m.

The building, which is over 10 years was initially designed as a plaza before the church bought it at N300 million, adding that the one storey building was being reconstructed by the Church.

The Church which is being used for the first time, Advocate.ng also gathered that reconstruction work was ongoing without recourse to the original strength of the foundation of the structure.