A day after the joyous celebration of a religious festival, an Orthodox Christian church in the small Ethiopian town of Arerti was holding mass funerals for the 36 worshippers killed when scaffolding inside the building collapsed.
Hundreds of mourners walked with coffins draped in colourful cloth into the compound of the Arerti Mariam church while clerics conducted burial rituals. 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.
Worshippers had gathered at the church, about 70 km (45 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa, on Wednesday as part of the annual Orthodox Christian celebration of St Mary. Eyewitness Gebreweld Tesfaye explained that a number of attendees climbed onto the makeshift scaffolding to view a newly painted mural when the structure collapsed in a moment of chaos, leaving many trapped beneath the rubble.
The death toll could rise as emergency services reported that some of the approximately 200 injured are in critical condition. The Archbishop of the local diocese, Megabi Hadis Nekatibeb, described the event as incredibly tragic and heart-breaking. Fikre shared the painful experience of searching for his mother only to find her body at the hospital amid the aftermath of the disaster.
Life for Fikre and his younger brother is now irrevocably changed, as their mother had been their primary caregiver, supporting them through the trade of selling locally brewed liquor. The Ethiopian government has since extended condolences to the victims' families, highlighting the critical need for safety regulations in all construction projects amidst a troubling pattern of disaster in the region.
