1 Month After 4 Deaths, Calabar Landslide Kills 2 , Deepens Safety Fears

Barely one month after a landslide killed four children from the same family in Calabar Municipality, another landslide has struck the area, killing two people in Ikot Effanga community.

The latest incident occurred in the early hours of Friday, August 28, 2026, when soil from a nearby hill collapsed onto an apartment where a man and a woman, reportedly friends, were spending the night.

The victims were trapped under the debris and died before help could reach them.

An eyewitness, Stella, whose surname was withheld, told LEADERSHIP that youths of the community dug through the debris on Friday morning and recovered the bodies.

“They were dug out by youths of the community this morning, and before they could bring them out, both of them had already passed out. Their bodies were later taken to the mortuary,” she said.

The identities of the deceased were yet to be ascertained as of the time of filing this report.

The latest tragedy has deepened long-standing fears in Ikot Effanga, where residents have for years lived with a growing gully ravine that cuts through the community, swallowing land and threatening homes.

Findings by LEADERSHIP revealed that the affected building housed three tenants. An elderly woman escaped, but the two other occupants were trapped by the landslide.

Several other houses are located directly below the hill, while some are still under construction, raising concerns that further rainfall could trigger another disaster.

An elderly resident, who pleaded anonymity, said repeated appeals to the Cross River State Government and the federal government had yielded no meaningful intervention.

“I know that now that people have died here, the government may finally come. Must they wait for people to die before they respond?” he asked.

Residents said they now sleep with one eye open, fearing that another downpour could cause more earth to collapse.

The latest incident is the second major landslide tragedy recorded in Cross River in just over a month.

In July, four children from the same family were killed when a landslide triggered by heavy rainfall struck their home in Ikot Awatim community, also in Calabar Municipality.

Despite repeated warnings and appeals by residents, there has been little intervention to address the erosion and landslide threat in Ikot Effanga.

Attempts by LEADERSHIP to obtain comments from the member representing Calabar Municipal State Constituency, Stanley Nsemo, and the Commissioner for Works, Pius Ankpo, on preventive measures being taken to avert further incidents were unsuccessful as of press time.

Reacting to the incident, the director-general of the Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Efa Nyong, described it as unfortunate.

Nyong said the agency had visited the scene alongside officials of a federal agency and sealed the affected premises pending further assessment.

“We were there with the officials of the federal agency to see what happened and to sympathise with the people, to enable us know what to do by Monday,” he said.

Asked whether the agency had received any warning that the land in the area could slide, Nyong said, “No, we did not.”

As sympathisers gathered at the scene on Friday, the mood was no longer just mourning but fear, with residents questioning whether the government would act before the expanding ravine claims more lives.