A two-story building still under construction has collapsed at No. 20 Ozuitem Street, Umuahia, the Abia State capital.

The building, said to be owned by a “very wealthy” resident of Umuahia, collapsed on Christmas Day when the site workers had taken the day off.

The cause of the collapse has not yet been officially established, but some residents living near the building claimed that substandard materials may have been used by the contractor, which they alleged compromised the integrity of the structure.

A resident who pleaded anonymity thanked God for sparing the lives of the site workers, saying: “Yesterday was Christmas Day and there was no work. If not, who knows what would have happened?”

He said that the contractor had gone into hiding after realising what had happened to avoid being arrested or questioned.

When DAILY POST visited the site on Thursday afternoon, a bulldozer was demolishing the remaining parts of the building to ensure they did not collapse onto adjacent houses.

Messages boldly pasted around the site by the Umuahia Capital Development Authority, UCDA, dated December 26, 2024, declared that the site had been sealed.

When DAILY POST contacted the Public Relations Officer of the Umuahia Capital Development Authority, Mrs Nkeiru Ogba, she confirmed that her office had visited the site of the collapsed building to ascertain what had happened.

She said that the owners of some of the buildings that had collapsed in the state did not follow due process or had refused to comply with official regulations.

Workers escape death as 2-story building collapses in Umuahia