A friend of the 27-year-old Nigerian man killed in Saturday’s building collapse has described the “appalling” living conditions at the property, claiming the landlord ignored repeated warnings about the structure’s safety.
Joanna Yiorkatzi, who may have been the last person to speak to the victim, named as Stanley, told philenews that the apartment had holes in the ceiling with exposed metal bars hanging over the living area.
“I asked him, ‘My God, how do you live like this?’ and he replied, ‘When you are black in this country, this is how they treat you,’” Yiorkatzi said.
According to Yiorkatzi, Stanley and his roommates had informed the landlord that the ceiling was falling in and that the flat had no electricity, forcing them to use candles. Despite these conditions, she noted that Stanley, who worked for a solar panel company and was in Cyprus legally, always paid his rent on time.
The pair had been friends for over two years, meeting through a marathon running club. Yiorkatzi had picked him up for their weekly run on Saturday morning and dropped him home at approximately 1:00 p.m., just minutes before the tragedy.
“Ten minutes passed and he sent me a message thanking me for the lift. Then the disaster happened,” she said. “I kept calling him, but he didn’t answer.”
Yiorkatzi also claimed that one of the survivors, Raphael, told her Stanley died because he stayed behind to help others escape instead of fleeing immediately.
Stanley moved to Cyprus to seek a better future and was financially supporting his mother and six siblings in Nigeria.
“It is very tragic that these people come to our country for a better future and experience all of this,” Yiorkatzi said. “We are all human; I have nothing else to say.”
