Nigeria church collapse leaves at least 160 dead – as witnesses describe morgues overflowing with bodies
Relatives of the dead are reportedly taking bodies HOME because there is space for them after the tragedy inside the Reigners Bible Church in the southern city of Uyo
AT least 160 worshippers have been killed after a church roof collapsed in Nigeria.
The horrific incident happened yesterday in the town of Uyo, the capital of oil-producing Akwa Ibom state in the largely Christian south of the country.
A local hospital director told today how mortuaries in the city are 'overflowing' with bodies after the tragedy at Reigners Bible Church International.
Many victims are in private mortuaries, but some desperate families are secretly taking bodies of relatives to their homes because they are so overcrowded - and some don't have refrigeration facilities.
Workers had been rushing to finish the church in time for Saturday, which was apparently filled to capacity for the consecration of pastor Akan Weeks into a Bishop.
It was still under construction when metal girders crashed onto worshippers and the corrugated iron roof caved in, trapping bodies.
Witness Ukeme Eyibio, 27, had parked his car outside to make a phone call when he heard a noise that he thought was a bomb - before realising the church had disappeared.
He said: "There were trapped bodies, parts of bodies, blood all over the place and people's handbags and shoes scattered".
He and three other people dragged out ten people from the wreckage, including a man whose legs were trapped under a steel girder.
He added: ";I rushed to my car, got out the tire jack and used that to get the beam off his legs.
"We managed to get him out but we saw others dying all around us.
"I'm so traumatized I could not sleep last night for the horrors repeating themselves in my mind."
State governor Udom Emmanuel was also inside when disaster struck, but somehow escaped unharmed.
The governor's spokesman, Ekerete Udoh, said the state government will hold an inquiry to investigate if anyone compromised building standards.
Buildings often collapse in Nigeria because of endemic corruption with contractors using sub-standard materials and bribing inspectors to ignore shoddy work or a lack of building permits.
In 2014, 116 people died when a multi-story guesthouse of the Synagogue Church of All Nations collapsed in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital.
Most victims were visiting South African followers of the megachurch's influential founder T. B. Joshua.
Two structural engineers, Joshua and church trustees have been accused of criminal negligence and involuntary manslaughter after a coroner found the building collapsed from structural failures caused by design and detailing errors.
But Lagos state government efforts to bring them to court have been foiled by repeated legal challenges that have delayed a trial.
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