One builder, Lukwago Francis, died and 25 adult men were rescued after a four-storey church extension under construction collapsed on Monday evening at Holy City Church in Bwerenga, near Entebbe, with search operations still under way.
One person has died and 25 others have been rescued after a building under construction collapsed at Holy City Church, the ministry of preacher Brother Ronnie Makabai, in Bwerenga, Katabi Town Council, near Entebbe in Wakiso District. The collapse happened on Monday evening, and the dead man has been identified by police as Lukwago Francis, a builder working at the site.
The 25 people rescued so far were all adult men, and they were taken to Kisubi Hospital and Entebbe Grade B Hospital for treatment. Police and Uganda People's Defence Force teams continued searching the rubble on Tuesday, and residents gathered outside the cordoned site demanding access to look for relatives, with police deploying additional soldiers after clashes with some residents.
Preliminary police findings say the collapsed structure was an extension of the main church building and had reached the fourth floor before it came down. The cause has not been established, and investigations are under way into the circumstances of the collapse while the structure was still under construction.
The rescue figure itself moved during the operation, and the reporting reflects that. Police first confirmed about 22 people rescued on Monday night, and the later police update on Tuesday raised that to 25 and confirmed the first death. Police have not confirmed how many people were at the site in total or whether anyone remains trapped, so claims in early social and secondary reports that scores or more than 100 people were trapped are not treated here as confirmed.
The search, and the investigation into why a four-storey extension failed during construction, are the two questions that remain open. The condition of the 25 survivors has not been disclosed, and any further confirmed deaths or rescues will change the toll from the one death and 25 rescued now confirmed by police.