A day after joyous religious festivities, mass funerals were conducted in the modest Ethiopian town of the local area for the 36 people killed when temporary framework inside an Orthodox Christian place of worship collapsed.
Numerous mourners walked with caskets draped in colorful cloth into the grounds of a adjacent religious site while religious leaders conducted burial ceremonies following the catastrophe at St Mariam Church.
Among them was 22-year-old Fikre Tilahun, who explained that he had been bereaved of his mother in the tragedy.
"It's difficult to be separated from your mother, very difficult," he said.
Even though the religious building is still under construction, worshippers had gathered in the structure on Wednesday during the annual Orthodox Christian celebration of St Mariam.
Observer Account of Incident
Eyewitness a local man described that a sizeable group of congregants decided to ascend onto the makeshift scaffolding to observe a newly painted mural on the ceiling of the building when disaster struck.
"The access point was entirely made of wood, and there were many people climbing upstairs at the time. While the congregants were going, the wooden structure gave way, leading to the collapse," the witness explained.
Other observers said that pandemonium followed, as people dispersed in panic or attempted to rescue the lives of those trapped beneath the debris.
Personal Loss
The young man stated that as soon as he heard of the incident, he hurried to the site, and then to a medical facility to search for his parent, but she was not at any location.
"My cousin contacted me later. And then I went to the hospital. Her body was there," Mr Fikre expressed.
His mother was one of the 36 dead, with emergency services indicating that the death toll could increase as some of the wounded, numbering about two hundred, were in serious condition. Some of them have been transferred to Addis Ababa, about 45 miles away, for medical care.
Official Reaction
The archbishop of the regional diocese, Megabi Hadis Nekatibeb, characterized the disaster as "extremely devastating and sorrowful".
Mr Fikre said existence would not be the same for him and his sibling without their parent.
"She raised us by producing and marketing local beverage," he told.
The government offered its sympathies to the family members of the deceased, and said that "safety must be given priority" during all construction undertakings.
Safety regulations are inadequately enforced in Ethiopia and building accidents are common.
