‘Looters’ trapped under rubble of demolished Kano Hotel, one dead

Some persons suspected to be looters stealing rods and other building materials from the demolished Daula Hotel in Kano State are currently trapped under the rubble.

The facility is among public building pulled down on the orders of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, who has vowed to reclaim government properties “illegally sold out”.

It was gathered that one person among the suspects lost his life while three others were rescued, but several others yet to be accounted for.

According to eyewitnesses, the incident happened around 2:30pm when the looters were scouting for iron rods from the rubble of the demolished building.

The Public Relations Officer, Kano State Fire Service, Saminu Yusif who spoke to our reporter at the scene of the incident, said his team had so far rescued three persons.

Yusuf said, “Our team rescued three alive, one had fracture on his leg but his relatives have gone with him. Two left on their own after they were rescued.

“I was told there is other persons inside but until he is brought out you cannot tell how many persons were trapped in there. But as you can see, our men were still on rescue mission.”

Also speaking, an eyewitness, Isah Ibrahim, said, “We were working upstairs and mostly these scavengers were down also taking one or two things. The problem is, when you are up there, they are trying to demolish the under which is very wrong.”

Men of fire service, NEMA, police, Kano State Urban Planning and Development Agency, KNUPDA among others were seen at the scene trying to rescue others trapped in the building.