A resident of the area, Mr. Asuquo Okon a staff of Cross River state Water Board said the incident happened at about 6pm when the wind storm which preceded a down pour pulled down economic trees including the mast.
“The mast fell on the roof of some houses and shops, and when we rushed out to see what had happened we saw a little girl who had gone to a nearby shop to buy some items before he was crushed by the fallen mast and another old man also under the fallen mast”
Mr Okon who said the mast was erected by Globacom, a Lagos based telecommunications company said apart from those killed many others were wounded by the fallen mast. “We gathered all the victims, both the dead and wounded to the General Hospital Calabar while those injured victims to the General hospital in Calabar.”
Another eyewitness of the incident, Mr Nnasia Isoni said the spot on Ntoe Edet Oqua Street where the mast was erected used to be a refuse dump site and later converted to a pit toilet by residents of the area.
“The mast was mounted on an old refuse dump site that was later converted to a pit toilet so I suspect that Globacom did not properly fill the place before erecting the mast which may have caused it to collapse”.
Mr Isoni said the collapsed mast destroyed his house including certificates and personal effects worth over N6million “And I am now homeless” he said.
Barrister Eyet Eyibio, the Secretary of Odukpani Council describes the incident as unfortunate and traumatizing especially the loss of lives and property. “The council will do a study of the disaster in concert with other agencies of government along with the company and the necessary step taken to forestall further occurrence”
Mr Eyibio said remedial measures will be taken by the council to ameliorate the impact of the incident on the victim.
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