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Twenty-four hours following joyous religious observances, collective burial services were conducted in the modest East African town of the local area for the thirty-six individuals killed when scaffolding inside an religious church collapsed.

Numerous mourners walked with caskets draped in colorful cloth into the compound of a adjacent church while religious leaders conducted funerary rituals in the wake of the disaster at the local church.

Among them was young adult a local resident, who explained that he had been bereaved of his parent in the tragedy.

"It's difficult to lose your mother, very difficult," he said.

Even though the religious building is currently being built, people had assembled in the building on midweek during the annual Orthodox Christian celebration of St Mariam.

Observer Description of Events

Firsthand observer Gebreweld Tesfaye reported that a considerable number of worshippers decided to ascend onto the makeshift scaffolding to view a newly painted mural on the church ceiling when disaster struck.

"The staircase was entirely wooden, and there were many individuals climbing upward at the moment. While the worshippers were going, the framework collapsed, leading to the collapse," the witness explained.

Other observers said that chaos ensued, as people dispersed in panic or tried to rescue the lives of individuals pinned under the rubble.

Personal Tragedy

The young man stated that immediately after he learned of the disaster, he rushed to the site, and then to a medical facility to search for his parent, but she was not at any place.

"A relative contacted me after that. And then I went to the hospital. Her body was there," he expressed.

His mother was one of the thirty-six deceased, with rescue personnel saying that the death toll could increase as some of the wounded, numbering about 200, were in serious state. Some of them have been moved to Addis Ababa, about 45 miles away, for treatment.

Leadership Reaction

The religious leader of the regional religious district, the senior cleric, characterized the tragedy as "extremely devastating and sorrowful".

The bereaved son said existence would not be the identical for him and his younger brother without their mother.

"Our mother raised us by making and marketing local beverage," he explained.

The authorities expressed its sympathies to the family members of the deceased, and said that "safety must be emphasized" during every construction undertakings.

Health and safety regulations are inadequately implemented in Ethiopia and building disasters are common.