Collapsed Market Wall Kills Two, Injures 18 in Akwa Ibom

Okon Bassey in Uyo

Two persons were monday reportedly killed and 18 wounded when a wall of a building collapsed in Urua Edere Obo in Onna Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

This is coming barely 10 days after Reigners Bible Church collapsed in Uyo, the state capital killing scores of people with many sustaining various degrees of injuries.

Onna where the incident occurred is the country home of the state Governor, Udom Emmanuel, and the Commissioner for Works, Akparawa Ephraim Inyang-eyen.

The state Commissioner of Police, Murtala Usman Mani, confirmed the incident and the casualty figures, stressing that “an old wall fell on them in that
market. Two women died because an old wall fell on them, and unfortunately, they died.”
According to the commissioner, 18 persons who reportedly escaped death but sustained injuries were recuperating in various hospitals in the area.

An eyewitness, Enobong Inyang, said the wall of the building crashed in the early hours of yesterday when the weekly market was in full session and that many of the victims were rushed to the Immanuel Hospital in Eket Local Government Area.

However, the state government has denied any death in the market wall building collapse, but declared that only seven persons sustained minor injuries as the state Commissioner for Works mobilised emergency rescue operation to the scene of incident.

“I hope nobody died, I hope nobody died,” the works commissioner was quoted to have said, urging that information on the casualty should be properly managed to avoid being blown out of proportion.

Also speaking on the issue, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Affairs, Raphael Edem, put the casualty figure at eight, disclosing that the victims were currently being treated at the Immanuel Hospital, Eket.
Edem equally dismissed any issue of death, contradicting the position of the police commissioner who had earlier disclosed that two women lost their lives.