A mother and her 14-year-old daughter have died after a three-storey building under construction collapsed in Anata Anaba, Okpoko, in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State.
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The tragic incident reportedly occurred at about 9:45 p.m. on October 8, 2026, trapping the woman and her daughter inside their apartment in a neighbouring bungalow when the structure came crashing down.
According to eyewitnesses, the building reportedly made loud noises before its walls began to crack and the structure eventually collapsed. Other people trapped beneath the rubble were rescued by emergency responders and taken to hospital, residents said.
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One eyewitness described what happened, saying:
“The woman and her daughter were in their apartment in a nearby bungalow when the three-storey building collapsed and trapped them. Before the building caved in, it made a loud noise as the walls started making cracking noises before falling one after the other.
“Some other people who were also trapped in the rubble were later rescued and rushed to the hospital by an emergency response team that mobilised to the scene to evacuate victims.”
Residents also raised concerns about the construction, claiming that the waterlogged nature of the land made it unsuitable for a three-storey building.
According to them, the engineer who initially handled the project had advised the builder to restrict the structure to two floors because of the ground conditions. However, the recommendation was reportedly ignored, and another engineer was later brought in to continue the project.
The collapse claimed the lives of the landlady of the neighbouring bungalow and her youngest child.
The woman’s son, identified as Chimobi, said three members of the family were inside the apartment when the building collapsed.
“I was outside at the time of the incident. But my mother and my sister were in the bedroom when the building collapsed directly on them, leaving them with no opportunity to escape,” he said.
He also lamented that earlier warnings about the building had not been heeded.
“It’s unfortunate. We had earlier warned the builder about the danger posed by the structure and we were joined by other residents in calling for the construction to be stopped, but our concerns were not heeded,” he lamented.
Confirming the incident on Thursday, the Anambra State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Chijioke Ojukwu, described the collapse as unfortunate.
Ojukwu visited the scene alongside Noble Igwe, the member representing Ogbaru One Constituency in the Anambra State House of Assembly.
The commissioner blamed the incident on the use of substandard building materials and disclosed that authorities had previously issued a stop-work notice on the structure.
“The structure was an illegal building and we had ordered its demolition and the land is going to be forfeited to the state government. We are investigating other unapproved buildings under construction in the area,” he said.
“It collapsed under the weight of negligence and poor-quality construction. It fell over and killed the residents of a neighbouring bungalow, a woman and her child.”
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