A day after the joyous celebration of a religious festival, mass funerals were held in the small Ethiopian town of Arerti for the 36 people killed when scaffolding inside an Orthodox Christian church collapsed.
Hundreds of mourners walked with coffins draped in colourful cloth into the compound of a nearby church while clerics conducted burial rituals following the disaster at the St Mariam Church.
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.
Although the church is still under construction, people had gathered in the building on Wednesday during the annual Orthodox Christian celebration of St Mariam. Eyewitness Gebreweld Tesfaye revealed that many worshippers climbed 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 people moving upstairs at the time. As the congregants were going, the wooden structure gave way, leading to the collapse, Mr Gebreweld recounted.
Chaos ensued, with people scattering in panic or attempting to rescue the trapped individuals. Emergency services report that approximately 200 people were injured, with many in critical condition and transported to hospitals in Addis Ababa for treatment.
The local archbishop, Megabi Hadis Nekatibeb, characterized the disaster as incredibly tragic and heart-breaking. Safety must be given priority during all construction projects, the government noted, recognizing the need for improved enforcement of health and safety regulations, as construction disasters are too common in Ethiopia.
