Scores Wounded As Hotel Collapses In Delta

No fewer than seven persons, including a female police officer and ADC
to the First Lady of a northern state (names withheld), were injured in
the wee hours of Wednesday, when the popular Mekaval Hotel located in
Effurun-Warri, Delta State collapsed.

It was gathered that the
collapse hotel was similar to the collapse of the Synagogue of All
Nation Church in Lagos, as the victims were mostly indigenes of
neighboring state who besieged the city seeking salvation at the Christ
Mercy Land Church, headed by Pastor Jeremiah Fufeyin, popularly called
‘Ijaw TB Joshua’ by followers.

Although the cause of the collapse
was yet unknown at the time of this report Wednesday, the Deputy
Governor of the state, Mr Kingsley Otuaro, a lawyer and deacon, hinted
of possible structural defect.

Otuaro, who raced to the scene of
the incident at about 10:45am, immediately ordered the closure of the
hotel buildings, as well as the standing two-storey main wing of the
hotel, as a precautionary measure to avert further loss of lives.

He
said, “The state government has ordered that the hotel be closed
immediately to avert further loss of lives. We are going to send
engineers straight away.

“It is very possible that there have
been some structural defect ab initio during construction works because
that place seems to be a waterlogged area and maybe the proper
engineering works were not done.”

Otuaro spoke with newsmen at
the Divine Grace Clinic, where five of the victims, including a pair of
brothers and three females were being treated, decried the incident and
described it as devastating.

He laments the devastation and
trauma suffered by some of the lodgers at the hotel, including a lady
from Bayelsa simply identified as Evangelist Florence, who spent over
seven hours under rubles of the collapsed hotel.

While stressing
that it wasn’t time for bulk-passing, the Deputy Governor assured that
competent engineers were on their way to the site to assess the
immediate and remote causes of the building collapse.

He
commended public-spirited individuals and organizations like the Red
Cross which promptly responded to distress call and assured that the
state government would pick up the medical bills of the victims some of
whom were being treated at the nearby Divine Grace Clinic.

Otuaro,
who also visited five of the victims, thanked God for their safe
evacuation from the scene and assured them of the support of the state
government.

He advised inhabitants of buildings close to the
scene to evacuate them pending examination by professional to ascertain
the state of the structures.

Nevertheless, The Nation independent
check revealed that the victims of Wednesday disaster were mainly
religious pilgrim from outside the state, who were in Effurun for a
church programme organized by Pastor Fufeyin

The ADC to the
northern state First Lady, who was simply identified as Adeza, told
Otuaro that she hit the city from Abuja on Tuesday afternoon in search
of solution to some family problem.

The lady, who hails from
Agbede, Edo state said, “I am a Muslim, but I came here to see the man
of God. Only recently I lost my elder brother who was in the Army and so
many things had been happening in my family. So I came here for
prayers.”

The lady, who occupied Room 206 before the unfortunate
incident, said at the time of her rescue she was still hearing voices
from under the rubles from the collapsed hotel building, hinting that
more people could still be trapped underground.

Her view with
contrary to those expressed that by the hotel management that the seven
recorded lodgers had all been rescued alive at about 11am on Wednesday.

Speaking
in the same vein, another victim, who simply identified herself as
Evangelist Florence, told our reporter that she came from Yenagoa,
Bayelsa state for the church’s programme.

“Immediately I got into town I went to the mountain for prayers. It was after the prayer that I came to Mekaval.

“As
I was sleeping, at about 2am I heard a sound creaking sound and
everything came down, I tried to unlock my door but I couldn’t; it
seemed like the door was locked outside. I was under the ground till
about 7am when I was rescue,” she added.