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 colorful 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 during the annual Orthodox Christian celebration of St Mariam. Eyewitness Gebreweld Tesfaye noted that many worshippers climbed onto the makeshift scaffolding to view a newly painted mural 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. Tesfaye explained.
Caught off guard by the sudden calamity, panic erupted as worshippers scrambled for safety or attempted to help those trapped under the wreckage. Fikre Tilahun, who ran to the church and subsequently to a health center to search for his mother, tragically found her among the deceased.
The casualty count could rise, with around 200 individuals injured, many critically, and some transferred to Addis Ababa for urgent care. The archbishop of the local diocese, Megabi Hadis Nekatibeb, described the disaster as incredibly tragic and heart-breaking. In response, the government expressed condolences to the victims' families, emphasizing the need for stringent safety protocols in construction to prevent such disasters in the future.
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 during the annual Orthodox Christian celebration of St Mariam. Eyewitness Gebreweld Tesfaye noted that many worshippers climbed onto the makeshift scaffolding to view a newly painted mural 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. Tesfaye explained.
Caught off guard by the sudden calamity, panic erupted as worshippers scrambled for safety or attempted to help those trapped under the wreckage. Fikre Tilahun, who ran to the church and subsequently to a health center to search for his mother, tragically found her among the deceased.
The casualty count could rise, with around 200 individuals injured, many critically, and some transferred to Addis Ababa for urgent care. The archbishop of the local diocese, Megabi Hadis Nekatibeb, described the disaster as incredibly tragic and heart-breaking. In response, the government expressed condolences to the victims' families, emphasizing the need for stringent safety protocols in construction to prevent such disasters in the future.
