Seven people have been identified dead on Sunday when a three-storey building still under construction collapsed in the Obalende area of Lagos state.
The building collapse happened at about 5:40pm and the cause of the collapse is yet to be ascertained. 10 other victims by people who had rushed to the scene of the incident.
The Director-General, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, who confirmed the incident said the rescued victims had been taken to the hospital for treatment. He also added that the corpses had been removed from the scene.
In his statement”Upon arrival at the incident scene, a three-storey building under construction was discovered to have collapsed. The cause of the collapse has yet to be ascertained, but efforts are presently ongoing by the LASEMA Response Team and other responders to salvage the situation.
” As of 5.40pm, a total of eight men have been extricated alive by the LASEMA Response Team and other stakeholders, and have been attended to and quickly transferred to the Lagos Island General Hospital by LASEMA paramedics for further medical attention.
Four people, made up of three males and one female, have so far been recovered dead and handed over to the SEHMU at the incident scene. A recovery operation is still ongoing.”
It was discovered that labourers had been working on the third floor of the building which had been sealed by the Lagos State Building Control Agency,when it crumbled down,trapped,injured and killed some of them.However, based on of some the rescued victims account, it was gathered that some of the labourers, said to be Muslims, were observing prayers when the building collapsed.
In an update on the incident around 7.42pm, the acting Zonal Coordinator, South-West Zonal Office, National Emergency Management Agency, Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, said six corpses had been removed from the debris while 10 other injured person were removed.
The Head, Public Affairs, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Nosa Okunbor, added in an update, “Following the collapsed building at No. 60 Odo Street, Obalende, in the Eti-Osa LCDA, LASEMA activated the state’s emergency response plan with the latest update being that 10 persons were treated with minor injuries; and 10 severely injured persons were removed from the debris, tended and transferred to hospital for further treatment.
“Records indicate that the seven fatalities, made up of six men and one woman, have also been recovered and promptly handed over to SEHMU. Further on-site investigation revealed that a portion of the collapsed building said to be occupied by some of the workers had been sealed off by the Lagos State Building Control Agency for obvious reasons of contravention.
“It was also revealed that the owner of the said structure had commenced clandestine operations in the wee hours of Sunday, an illegal action that directly resulted in this unfortunate incident.According to eyewitnesses, the casting of the third floor was in progress when the building suddenly collapsed at the illegal construction site.”
The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Idris Salako, who arrived at later promised to get to the root of the matter.
