In brief
Following a devastating scaffolding collapse at St Mariam Church in Arerti, Ethiopia, which killed 36 people and injured around 200, mourners gathered for mass funerals. Eyewitness accounts reveal panic and chaos as congregants attempted to escape the rubble. The government expressed condolences and emphasized the need for strict safety regulations in construction projects.
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.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.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. 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.
