21 Feb 2020

Woman dies in Kiribati after hit by fallen pillar

10:34 am on 21 February 2020

A woman in her 30s has died at Tabiteuea North in Kiribati after a pillar from a maneaba, or traditional meeting house, fell on her.

Bonriki-Buota bridge between islets over lagoon, South Tarawa, Kiribati, Micronesia, Oceania, South Pacific Ocean.

Photo: 123RF

Mayor Tabukirake Baraniko told Radio Kiribati the accident happened at the island's administrative village in Bakokoi on Sunday.

The weather was very bad when Kianiu Iotebwa, her husband, and children decided to leave their house and seek shelter inside the maneaba.

In the early hours, the husband went to tie the curtains to prevent rain and wind from entering the maneaba, when without warning a concrete pillar suddenly toppled and fell on Mrs Iotebwa.