Scaffolding collapsed as people climbed to see Ethiopia church mural, eyewitness tells BBC
Amensisa IfaBBC Africa, Arerti and
Sammy AwamiBBC Africa, Nairobi
STR / EPA / Shutterstock
A day after the joyous celebration of a religious festival, mass funerals were held in the small Ethiopian town of Arerti for the 36 people killed when scaffolding inside an Orthodox Christian church collapsed.
Hundreds of mourners walked with coffins draped in colourful cloth into the compound of a nearby church while clerics conducted burial rituals following the disaster at the St Mariam Church.
Among them was 22-year-old Fikre Tilahun, who told the BBC that he had lost his mother in the tragedy.
“It’s difficult to lose your mother, very difficult,” he said.
Amensisa Ifa / BBC
Fikre Tilahun last saw his mother the night before her death
Although the church is still under construction, people had gathered in the building on Wednesday during the annual Orthodox Christian celebration of St Mariam.
Eyewitness Gebreweld Tesfaye told the BBC that a sizeable number of the worshippers decided to climb onto the makeshift scaffolding to view a newly painted mural on the church ceiling when disaster struck.
“The staircase was entirely wooden, and there were many people moving upstairs at the time. As the congregants were going, the wooden structure gave way, leading to the collapse,” Mr Gebreweld said.
Other eyewitnesses said that chaos ensued, as people scattered in panic or tried to save the lives of people trapped beneath the rubble.
Amensisa Ifa / BBC
The church is still under construction
Mr Fikre told the BBC that as soon as he heard of the disaster, he rushed to the church, and then to a health centre to look for his mother, but she was not at either place.
“My cousin called me after that. And then I went to the hospital. Her body was there,” Mr Fikre said.
She was among the 36 dead, with the emergency services saying that the death toll could rise as some of the injured, numbering about 200, were in a critical condition. Some of them have been transferred to Addis Ababa, about 70 km (45 miles) away, for treatment.
The archbishop of the local diocese, Megabi Hadis Nekatibeb, described the disaster as “incredibly tragic and heart-breaking”.
Amensisa Ifa / BBC
A mass funeral was held for the victims
Mr Fikre said life would not be the same for him and his younger brother without their mother.
“She raised us by making and selling tella [a locally brewed liquor],” he told the BBC.
The government expressed its condolences to the relatives of the victims, and said that “safety must be given priority” during all construction projects.
Health and safety regulations are poorly enforced in Ethiopia and construction disasters are common.
More about Ethiopia from the BBC:
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