Rescue Worker, Another Dies in Kano Building Collapse

At least two persons have died in the three-storey building that collapsed at the Beirut GSM market in the Kano metropolis.

The Secretary, of the Nigerian Red Cross Society in Kano, Musa Abdullahi, said an official of Kano Electricity Distribution Company was electrocuted during the rescue operation.

He said the official died while trying to cut the electric supply into the collapsed building but the power from the transformer accidentally relayed back, killing him.

Also, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), which jointly coordinated the rescue operation said eight persons were rescued from the building and taken to Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital. Unfortunately one of them died at the hospital.

The NEMA spokesperson, Manzo Ezekiel, said six persons with minor injuries were treated and discharged. He, however, said one of them with multiple fractures is still being treated at the hospital.

In a late Tuesday statement, the official said search and rescue operations are still ongoing to rescue those trapped beneath the rubbles.

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He said the secure operation is being carried out jointly by search and rescue teams of NEMA, Kano State Emergency Management Agency, Fire Service, Nigerian Police, the military, Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, State Road Transport Authority (KAROTA), Nigerian Red Cross Society, and others.

Meanwhile, following the collapse of the building, the Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, suspended the swearing event of commissioners-designate, to honour both the victims of the collapsed building and flooding in parts of the state.

“Kano State Government has suspended the swearing-in ceremony of commissioners-designate earlier scheduled for tomorrow in honour of victims trapped in a three-storey building collapse at a GSM Market along Beirut Road in the metropolis,” the government’s spokesperson, Muhammad Garba, said.