A building under construction in the Hai- Thora suburb of Juba on Thursday afternoon caved in leaving one person dead and five others injured.
Steven Taban, a construction worker on the site told The Juba Echo that undisclosed number of workers got trapped under the debris.
“We have been working here with other young men for four days taking building blocks up to begin construction of the fourth floor, but today we were shocked by the sudden collapse of the building,” Taban said.
“There was one person lying down on the bed but when the building collapsed we did not know whether he managed to escape, we have removed out six young men, one died and we have taken the other 5 to hospital,” he disclosed.
Another builder on the same site who requested to remain anonymous, said about seven workers were working on the fourth floor, adding that the owner of the building was in rush to finish construction.
“The building has taken time I came and joined the construction work in 2021. This building was okay and I used to sleep inside, the weight of the blocks might have caused the building to collapse,” he said.
Emmanuel Khamis, the Acting Mayor of Juba City Council, said that the building will be completely demolished and removed to see if there are people trapped under the debris.
“The building collapsed this morning and at least three people who are terribly injured have been taken to hospital, it is believed that about six people have been affected,” Khamis said during press conference.
He promised to schedule urgent meeting with the engineering council of South Sudan to task them to ensure that all buildings in Juba meet quality standards.
