Mr Ejike Martins, South-South Coordinator of Nigeria National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said 31 persons have been rescued alive, while 15 others were brought out of the rubble dead at the site of the collapsed building in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
A seven-storey building under construction at the Government Reserved Area, Port Harcourt collapsed on Nov. 19.
Martins told newsmen in Port Harcourt on Monday that every floor of the seven-floor building fell, making the work of rescue workers difficult.
According to him, the complexity of the incident caused the slow pace of rescue operations.
“The peculiarity of this collapse is such that every floor fell directly on the other; the implication is that the debris will be removed bit by bit.
“This is what made the operations to be seen as relatively slow,” he said.
Martins said the organisations involved in the rescue operations had worked hard maintaining that they were constrained by the peculiarity of the collapse.
Rescue operations were criticized by some members of the public as “slow and poor”. (NAN)
