Addis Ababa — Makeshift scaffolding set up at a church in Ethiopia collapsed Wednesday, killing at least 36 people and injuring more than 200, state media said. The incident occurred at around 7:45 a.m. local time in the town of Arerti, about 40 miles east of capital Addis Ababa, when a group was visiting for an annual Virgin Mary festival.
District police chief Ahmed Gebeyehu told state media Fana: “The number of dead has reached 36 and could increase more”, adding “more than 200 people have suffered injuries” and were receiving treatment at a local hospital.
Some people remained under the rubble, local official Atnafu Abate told the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), without giving further details about those trapped or possible rescue efforts.
He said some of the more seriously hurt were taken to hospitals in the capital.
Images shared on the EBC’s official Facebook page showed a mess of collapsed wooden poles, with crowds gathering amid the dense debris.
Other pictures appeared to show the outside of the church where scaffolding had been precariously constructed.
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A government statement shared by EBC expressed condolences, and added that “safety must be given priority.”
Health and safety regulations are virtually non-existent in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation, and construction accidents are common.
The sprawling country is a mosaic of 80 ethnic groups and has one of the world’s oldest Christian communities.
Its predecessor, the Axumite Empire, declared Christianity the state religion in the fourth century.