A warehouse collapse in Minna’s Sabon Gari area, Niger State, has resulted in several individuals being trapped with five people rescued so far. Reports indicate that the incident occurred while two truckloads of soft drinks were being offloaded in the Kasuwan Gwari Market on Friday.
An eyewitness, Aliyu Umaru, described the scene, stating, “There were many people inside when the structure succumbed. Some were retrieved deceased, others in critical condition have been dispatched to the hospital. The chances of survival for some seem very slim.”
Umaru observed that the warehouse, which was initially a residential building, had been routinely burdened with heavy inventories of soft drinks and bottled water, which might have contributed to its structural failure. He also noted that one individual who was injured and taken to the hospital later died from the injuries.
Despite these accounts, the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) confirmed the incident but declared there were no fatalities. Director-General Abdullahi Baba-Arah, in a media address, emphasized that the building, lacking proper authorization to serve as a warehouse, would be demolished.
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In conclusion, Baba-Arah detailed the collaborative emergency response stating, “After receiving urgent communication at 3:15 pm about the collapse, we mobilized a coordinated search and rescue operation alongside NEMA, the State Urban Development Board, the State Environmental Protection Agency, and other rescue services including the Federal Fire Service, police, NSCDC, NDLEA, the Red Cross, vigilante groups, and volunteers.
“At the current moment, no deaths have been reported. Five individuals have been saved, all sustaining injuries of varying severity, whilst two more exited the site unscathed.
“Rescue operations have been bolstered by an excavator brought onto the scene to shift the rubble and inspect for any remaining victims. NEMA employed life-detection equipment, but after approximately three hours of thorough search efforts, no additional trapped persons were discovered,” he informed.
