Disaster as man dies under fallen Staircase in Rivers

Adebayo Adenrele



The body of a man (name withheld) on Wednesday was recovered by members of a local vigilante group under a fallen staircase of an abandoned building in Elechi Street area of Mile 3 Diobu, Port Harcourt City Local Government Area.

According to reports, the staircase attached to the abandoned one-storey building collapsed and fell on the victim, who was suspected to be a scavenger.

A source within the area said the building, overtaken by weeds and riddled with deep cracks on the wall, was used by criminals for their activities.

Confirming the development, the Chief Security Officer of Nkpolu Oroworukwo, Mile 3, Godstime Ihunwo, said he received the disturbing information at about 6:15pm on the incident.

Ihunwo, a member of Diobu Vigilante Service, disclosed that he and his team only discovered the corpse of the victim trapped under the fallen staircase when they visited the abandoned building in search of drug users.

His words: “Based on previous complaints from residents of the area on the use of the abandoned building as smoking joint by hoodlums, we mobilised to the place and on getting to the area the hoodlums have left.

“While conducting search for the hoodlums in the abandoned building, we saw a corpse of a male and on close examination it was observed that the staircase of the storey building collapsed on him,” he said.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer of Rivers State Command, SP Grace Iringe-Koko confirmed the incident, noting that the victim was a scavenger who engaged in removing iron rods from abandoned buildings.

The said investigation was underway to unravel the circumstances of the death of the victim.

“Yes, there was a case of a man whose corpse was said to have been found under the fallen staircase of an abandoned one-storey building.

“Investigation is still ongoing on the circumstances of the death of the man, but it has been established that he was a scavenger who goes about removing iron rods from houses, especially abandoned buildings.”