ADDIS ABABA: Mak­eshift scaffolding set up at a church in Ethiopia collapsed on Wednesday, killing at least 36 people and injuring more than 200, state media said.

The incident occurred at around 7:45am in the town of Arerti, roughly 70 kilometres east of capital Addis Ababa, when a group was visiting for an annual Virgin Mary festival.

District police chief Ahmed Gebeyehu told state media Fana: “The number of dead has rea­ched 36 and could increase more”, adding “more than 200 people have suffered injuries” and were receiving treatment at a local hospital. Some people rem­ained under the rubble, local official Atnafu Abate told the Ethiopian Broad­casting Corporation (EBC), without giving further details about those trapped or possible rescue efforts. He said some of the more seriously hurt were taken to hospitals in the capital.

Images shared on the EBC’s official Facebook page showed a mess of coll­apsed wooden poles, with crowds gathering amid the dense debris. Other pictu­res appeared to show the out­side of the church whe­re scaffolding had been precariously constructed.

A government statem­ent shared by EBC expr­essed condolences, and added that “safety must be given priority”. Health and safety regulations are virtually non-existent in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation, and construction accidents are common.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2025