100 die as church collapses

UYO. — At least 100 people were killed by the collapse of a church in south-eastern Nigeria, a resident and photojournalist who visited the town morgue said yesterday, a day after the incident.

“At Uyo teaching hospital where I am now I could see over a hundred corpses, many are heaped on top of each other on the floor,” said photojournalist Ini Samuel. “Eyewitnesses also said yesterday corpses were packed in four each bag.”

Gary Ubong, a resident, said the church’s roof had collapsed on worshippers while a pastor was being consecrated as bishop in the presence of government officials.

“I saw more than 100 dead bodies brought out on loaders,” said Ubong, who said he had rushed to the scene after the accident. “I also went to two hospitals and saw heaps of dead bodies difficult to count.”

State police spokeswoman Cordelia Nwawe said 27 had been killed and 30 injured when the Reigners Bible Church in Akwa Ibom state capital Uyo collapsed during a service on Saturday. State emergency agency NEMA said in a statement that six people had been killed and 115 injured. State governor Udom Emmanuel, who escaped unhurt from the church service, ordered the arrest of the building contractor, state news agency NAN said.

Building collapses are frequent in the West African nation and often blamed by officials on lack of construction permits and the use of cheap materials amid widespread corruption.

Critics say Nigerian authorities tend to understate the death toll at such accidents or suicide bombings by the Boko Haram jihadist group in the north of the country.

At a gas plant blast in southern Nigeria a year ago, the presidency said “tens of people” had been killed while eyewitnesses counted more than 100 bodies. Police had then just confirmed eight dead. — Reuters.