By Tijjani Tijjani

South-South Coordinator, NEMA, Mr Ejike Martins, has said  31 persons have been rescued alive, while 15 others were brought out of the rubble dead, at the site of the collapsed in Port Harcourt.

Martins told newsmen in Port Harcourt on Monday that every floor of the seven-floor building fell on each other in the process of the collapse, making the effort of rescue operators `appear to be slow’.

According to him, the complexity of the incident is caused by the slow pace of rescue operations at the collapsed seven-story building in Port Harcourt.

“The peculiarity of this collapse is such that every floor fell directly on the other; the implication is that the debris will be removed bit by bit.

“This is what has made the operation to be seen as relatively slow, this is also the reason it is taking some time,’’ he said.

Martins said the organizations involved in the rescue operations had been very proactive but added that they were constrained by the peculiarity of the collapse.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a seven-story building under construction at the Government Reserved Area, Port Harcourt collapsed on Nov. 19.

NAN recalls that the rescue operations at the site of the building collapse were being criticized by some members of the public as “ slow and poor”. (NAN)