No fewer than four persons died instantly under the wreckage of a church building that collapsed at Sagbe village, a community in the Akinyele Local Government area of Oyo State on Wednesday night.
The auditorium of the New Covenant church caved in during a heavy downpour which lasted for less than one hour, and the wreckage fell on worshippers who were
observing a mid-week church service which was on-going as at the time.
Pandemonium ensued within the vicinity of the new generation church located behind the Ayanna Petrol Station, almost a kilometre away to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture [IITA], as inhabitants of the area ran helter skelter as they made spirited moves to rescue those who were trapped inside.
Eye witness accounts revealed that the sad event occurred at about 7.45 p.m. midway to the service, as the worshippers were engaged in praise singing and dancing, when a big bang was suddenly heard while parts of the building caved in.
Some of the worshippers were trapped in the rubbles while no fewer than four reportedly lost their lives. Many people sustained varied degrees of injuries from
the incident.
People of the area quickly raced to the place with a view to ascertain what was happening regardless of the rain that had been pouring for over an hour in the area.
It took men of the State Fire Brigade Service and other agencies some time to remove those trapped under the rubble.
Apart from the officers and men of the fire brigade who came on rescue mission, the report said, the people of the area swung into action by contributing immensely to the rescue operation which resulted in the recovering of four lifeless bodies out of the 20 church members trapped in the collapsed building .
Oyo State Governor, Senator Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi was among the early sympathizers who stormed at the scene of the collapsed building.
The Governor who arrived the place at about midnight assured that his administration would assist those who sustained injuries in the wreckage .
He however advised that those living along the streams in the state to always avoid indiscriminate dumping of their refuse on the water ways during and after raining
season to avert re-occurence of flood disaster in the state .
