Three people, a mother and her two children have died after a school perimeter wall collapsed on their grass thatched house in Kasubi A Central Village, Bardege-Layibi Division in Gulu City.
The incident happened at about 1 pm Friday morning during a heavy downpour when the perimeter wall belonging to Christ the Center Ministries Nursery and Primary School collapsed.
The deceased have been identified as Mercy Anena 28, a businesswoman, and her two children Tracy Lagum 4, and Abigail Lamaro, one and a half years old.
According to Margaret Arach, Anena’s mother-in-law, she woke up at about 1 pm when the house had already been crashed by the perimeter wall. She notes that they hurriedly mobilized other neighbors to rescue the occupants but it was too late since they had all died under the rubble.
Arach says that Anena’s husband Emmanuel Akena survived the incident with minor injuries on the chest and head. She however blamed the school management for failing to heed their several complaints about the construction of the perimeter wall near her son’s grass thatched hut.
Arach is now demanding the school management foot all the burial expenses and compensate for the loss of her grandchildren and daughter-in-law.
Patrick Oola Lumumba, the Bardege-Layibi City Division Mayor says that the incident was a result of negligence by the school authorities and the site engineers who constructed the perimeter wall.
Lumumba says the engineer from Crux Engineering and Construction Ltd erected the wall without a firm foundation adding that there wasn’t also a proper drainage system provided to transport flood water out of the school.
Andrew Opio, the Regional Community Liaison Officer for Aswa River Region says he hadn’t received detailed reports on the incident.
