Three IMT students in critical condition as hostel collapses

TRACKING_____Doctors are currently battling to save the lives of three female students critically injured following the partial collapse of a female hostel at the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) Enugu.

The students, who were receiving treatment at various hospitals in Enugu metropolis where they were rushed after the Monday incident, were said to be the students of Mass Communication Department.

When our correspondent visited HopeCare Medical Centre, one of the hospitals were one of the injured girls was admitted, the victim, Oluchi Obetta, was seen with swollen face and disfigured mouth. It was learnt that the other two students were taken to Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu. One of them identified as Miss Amanda, it was learnt, has a broken neck and waist.

Narrating the incident to our correspondent, Oluchi an off-campus student, who struggled to speak, said “on Monday morning, around 10 O’clock, I went to the hostel to call my friend by name Amanda, for a lecture we were supposed to have that morning.

“When I got to the hostel, on first floor of the two-storey building, she was washing plates on the balcony. She begged me to wait for her. So, while I was standing and waiting for her to finish, another student came down to join her on the balcony.

“We were discussing and all of a sudden, the balcony where she was washing the plates collapsed. The next thing I found myself in this hospital. My friend, Amanda, was taken to Orthopaedic Hospital because, as I was told, she broke her neck and waist”.

Oluchi, however, disclosed that a delegation from the school came and demanded that she be transferred to the school clinic to enable the institution to take care of her medical treatment, because the school will not be responsible for her medical treatment at the private hospital.

According to her, the delegation said that the school authorities would settle the medical bill of the other students taken to the National Orthopaedic Hospital Enugu because their case was more severe.

But she said that she declined the offer because she wasn’t sure of proper treatment in the school clinic due to her condition.

But the institution’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Mark Eze, said on the phone that there was no official report of the incident to the management.