The popular Mekaval Hotel located in Effurun-Warri, Delta State collapsed leading to several people being hospitalized.
The scene of the collapsed hotel
According to TheNation, 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 neighbouring 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 on 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