Death Toll Rises In Lagos Island Building Collapse

Death Toll Rises In Lagos Island Building Collapse

At least four bodies have now been recovered from the rubble of a building that collapsed in the Lagos Island area of Lagos State on Saturday.

The death toll was initially one as of Saturday afternoon.

The total number of people rescued alive from the building, which collapsed in the Onike area of Lagos, is now five, while four bodies have been recovered, an official said.

The Zonal Coordinator Southwest, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye, confirmed the development to journalists in the early hours of Sunday.

Mr Farinloye said that further investigation from the incident showed that the collapsed building, under construction, was located within a compound.

He said a third suspended slab concrete was already in place with an ongoing internal partition of the building before the collapse.

“The building crumbled during a downpour at about 1:45 p.m. Saturday.

“The building was bequeathed to the family members and some of the family members awarded it to a developer who was converting the bungalow building into a three-storey building before it collapsed,” Mr Farinloye said.

According to the NEMA boss, Alayaki Lane, where the building is located, contains a cluster of buildings and the rescue operation is being hampered by the lack of space.

He, however, assured the people that the emergency responders were working hard to get to ground zero.

He said for now no one had claimed that a relation was missing.

Apart from NEMA, other agencies participating in the operations include LASEMA, Federal and State Fire Services, NSCDC, the police and the Nigeria Red Cross.

“An unconfirmed number of people are still trapped inside the building,” Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, a permanent secretary with the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), had said on Saturday.

The latest incident happened two weeks after a three-storey building collapsed killing eight residents and leaving many injured at Ebute-Metta.

Another building collapsed in the first week of May on Chris Igadi street, off Ago Palace way opposite Kilimanjaro/ AP filling station.