Decomposing bodies found at site of collapsed building in Abuja

Some decomposing bodies have been found under the rubble of the collapsed building in Abuja.

The four-storey building collapsed in Abuja on Friday.

A corpse was seen at 10:50am when officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) came to clear the debris.

Angry relatives and residents of the trapped victims have trooped to the site, raining curses on the officials for not rescuing them.

As of the time of filing this report, the officials are trying to evacuate the decomposing bodies.

On Saturday when rescue officials concluded search operation at the building, family members and friends of the victims staged a protest.

The rescue team consisted of officials of FCT Emergency Management Agency, firefighters and Julius Berger company.

People believed to be relatives of affected persons accused the rescue officials of not doing enough to save victims.

Some of them told TheCable that the debris of the first floor had not been completely removed, saying there are chances that people were still inside.

One of the protesters, who identified himself as Mohammed, said his brother is still under the rubble, noting that he spoke to him on phone a few minutes after the incident.

“I have a brother here. Yesterday we called our brother and we are talking to him underground and was complaining of the heat. But this morning, we called him but we did not get him. So the government did not do anything and our people are under the ground,” he had said.

Florence Wenegieme, acting deputy director, forecasting, response and mitigation, FCT Emergency Agency Management Authority, said officers have gone to the hospital to ascertain the number of people who are receiving treatment and those that have died.

“As at yesterday only one person died, for the other people they claimed that were in the building, we have been searching since last night and we have not been able to find any corpse or anybody alive,” she had said.

“So we cannot say that there are still people inside because we have searched right deep into the building but we could not find anyone.”