By Mabinty M. Kamara & Anthony Leevay in Bo
Dozens of people are feared missing after a house under construction in Bo collapsed on Wednesday.
The incident which happened along the Bo-Tiama Highway, involved a three storied building. Sources say the incident happened during a process of concreting the third floor of the building.
Most of the victims are believed to be casual workers.
Eyewitnesses say there were women selling food stuff and others were fetching water within the compound, all of whom might be trapped under the rubbles.
On Wednesday, scores of youths were helping personnel from the Sierra Leone Police in rescue efforts.
As of the time of going to press, about eight people had been removed and were taken to the hospital. The Police Chief in the Southern Region, AIG Kapri Saidu Kamara told Politico that the eight people had lacerations on their bodies.
It is not yet clear as to who owns the building. But workers at the site say a man known as Mohamed ‘Timber’ is the contractor that hired them.
An official from the department of survey in the Ministry of Lands said initial assessment indicates that the incident was caused by poor engineering.
Joseph Kpanabom, Regional Surveyor Southern Region, told Politico that the building collapsed due to poor construction and supervision, noting that the construction materials used were substandard. He also said that the quantity of cement, sand and water did not measure up to acceptable standard for such projects.
“By every indication this is a case of poor construction work and poor engineering work,” Mr Kpanabom said on a telephone interview.
A survivor of the incident, who escaped by running, said about 83 people were working on the structure as indicated from the roll call earlier in the morning.
Ibrahim Aruna, one of the workers at the site, told Politico that they were in the middle of the construction work when they heard a sound from the building. He said he ran fast enough out of the range of the falling structure.
“I ran away after I heard the sound of the building cracking,” he said.
Osman Barrow, another casual worker, only escaped because he went to buy bread.
This incident has again raised questions over safety standards in construction work in Sierra Leone.
The particular area where this incident occurred is splattered with buildings under construction, many of them without proper supervision.
A similar incident occurred last June in the same area when a retaining wall of a building under construction fell. One person died in that incident.
© 2019 Politico Online
