Five persons, including a 13-year-old girl, died yesterday in Lagos, when a two-storey building collapsed.
House 30/32, Ishaga Road, Ikate, Surulere, was said to have collapsed around 10am, during an early morning downpour.
Emergency management officials, including the Lagos State Emergency
Management Agency (LASEMA), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps
(NSCDC), Lagos Fire Service, National Emergency Management Authority
(NEMA) and policemen were making frantic efforts to rescue people
believed to be trapped in the rubble.
Eyewitnesses told The Nation that no fewer than 10 people were injured. Four were rushed to an undisclosed hospital.
It was learnt that the victims included some passersby, who had taken refuge from the rain in the uncompleted building.
Among them, The Nation learnt, was the teenager, who was said to be a
bread seller. A tailor, whose machine was brought out, was trapped in
the rubble.
Prince Tony Anslem, a Rotarian, said: “We were in church when we
heard a sound; we rushed down and started evacuating the victims before
the emergency response agencies were contacted.
“We acted swiftly because the dredging company working around here
employed the youths. We were evacuating the victims when men of the NEMA
and LASEMA, got here. But before they came, youths in the area had
rescued five persons alive.
“As it was raining, people ran under the shed. I still believe there
are people trapped under the debris. We are still expecting to recover a
bread seller carrying a baby, but the one we eventually met dead, was
the teenage girl with no baby.
“While we were standing here, one of the rescued victims told us that
some were still trapped in there. When we moved in, we were hearing
their voice: “We are still here o … we are still here o!” But we could
not locate them. So far, five bodies have been removed. The state
government has taken four bodies, while mallams took their own
immediately.”
Confirming the incident, both NEMA’s information officer, Ibrahim
Farinloye and General Manager of LASEMA Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, said
five bodies had been recovered.
Farinloye told The Nation that one of the injured victims was rushed
to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) for surgery. Two
others were taken to emergency wards.
Meanwhile, the NEMA officials, while leaving the scene at about
3.30pm, alleged that they were chased out by a state official who
claimed that the incident was a state government affair.
However, the official denied the allegation, saying: “I did not chase them out and I am not even aware if anyone did.
“But to put the facts straight, NEMA is a secondary responder. In any
state where you have state emergency management committee, it is that
committee that is primary responder. It is the state that will call NEMA
if we need their assistance or if the situation is beyond our control,”
he said.
The General Manager, Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), Dr
Abimbola Animashaun-Odunayo, said: “We sealed this structure about
three weeks ago with three others in this environment. Whenever we seal
buildings, we expect the owners to come with their various documents,
but nobody showed up on this particular building.
“This construction started even before the establishment of our
agency and they were not certified. We ordered them to stop work. We did
monitor, but unfortunately, they decided to work on a Sunday when our
offices were closed. That is why this building collapsed. For this to
have happened, it means they broke our seal. The building is substandard
and there was no approval.”
In a related development, a 12-storey building behind Zenith Bank
Headqauaters at Ajose Adeogun, Victorias Island, Lagos, was up in flames
yesterday. Three floors in the building which house many offices were
completely razed.
Razak Fadipe, Director, Lagos State Fire Service, who confirmed the
incident to The Nation yesterday, said he received a destress call
around 8.15am .
He said when their fire truck from Onikan got to the scene, his men
discovered they could not handle it alone. They therefore alerted the
Ijora Service Station from where another truck moved in.
“The fire, which affected offices on the first, second and third floors, was put put out by the fire fighters,” Fadipe said.
He said investigation to unravel the cause of the
