Fendall – A child has been reported dead with another severely injured, after a house made of dirt bricks collapsed on Wednesday, May 22 in Black-Tom Town Community, Fendall, lower Montserrado County.
The two kids were playing near the house where renovation work was ongoing when the incident occurred at about 10:30 in the morning.
Eyewitnesses told FrontPageAfrica said the workers were not on the site when one side of the building walls crumbled, falling on the children.
One of the kids, a two-year boy was reportedly pronounced dead by at a nearby clinic while the other, eight-year leg was broken.
An eyewitness Martha Youjay said the mother of the two kids, only identified as Patience, was in a house next to the renovation site when the incident occurred.
“No one was here when we heard the sound of the wall falling like truck tire bursting. My friend was behind the house in the other yard, but we saw the lady who owns the house running from across the road when the thing happened,” Martha explained.
Satta, who is the owner of the house, was in a confused mood when the incident occurred.
She attributed the incident to the “devil’s work, saying that she was just coming back to the site when the incident took place.
“I don’t know what to do because this is a big problem here,” she said while crying.
There are several makeshift homes in the community with some currently serving as death-trap for occupants and community members.
Most of the houses are low-income homes – made of sticks and mud, plastered with cement and roofed with zincs.
Sayon Dwah, prominent community members of the town, said several of the structures have spent over three to four decades and have depreciated.
“I am not a Civil Engineer, but I have lived here for a time now and most of these houses have overstayed and they continue to adjust it with cement rather than rebuilding it. It is not safe for even those who are living in it,” Dwah noted.
“There is a need for authority to ensure that those who have makeshift structures and are not in good state change it to something good, especially along the road.”