STORY: Around midday local time, the workers heard cracking sounds and the building started to crumble around them, said caretaker and builder Jourdin Yoro, whose arm and torso were injured in the accident.
“In a rush, we started to run,” Yoro said. “Within about 45 seconds, the building collapsed.”
Rescue efforts were ongoing at the site in Abidjan’s upscale Riviera Palmeraie district on Saturday, with emergency workers searching through a vast pile of shattered concrete and debris.
The head of the firefighting unit at the scene, Charles Paolo, said a further nine people were wounded in the collapse.
Such accidents are relatively frequent in Ivory Coast and elsewhere in West Africa, particularly in the rainy season, due to poor enforcement of building regulations and the use of often substandard construction materials.
