2 feared dead as building collapses in Lagos
We warned them, says LASBCA
Barely two weeks after a three-storey building collapsed in Ire-Akari area of Lagos, killing about three people, another three-storey building went down yesterday on Lagos Island with two people feared dead while 14 persons were rescued.
A source said the two dead persons, a man and a woman, whose identities could not be confirmed by the respondents, were pulled out of debris of the collapsed building.
General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Agency (LASEMA), Mr. Adesina Tiamiyu, said the building, at No 9, Daddy Alhaja Street, Oke Arin on Lagos Island, collapsed at about 7:00am and added that the response by emergency responders helped rescue some victims of the collapsed building.
“The agency received a distress call via the toll free number 767/112 at about 7:00am yesterday concerning the building and that prompted the immediate activation of the agency’s emergency response team and other responders which included the Lagos State Ambulance Service, Lagos State Fire Service, Lagos State Building Control Agency, National Emergency Management Agency, Nigeria Police, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps to the scene of the incident,” the LASEMA boss said.
Tiamiyu noted that the agency immediately mobilised all stakeholders to the scene and successfully rescued 14 victims with various degrees of injuries.
They were immediately moved by the LASAMBUS and LRU Ambulance to Mainland Hospital for further treatment. He also confirmed two bodies were recovered from the debris and handed over to family members for burial.
Meanwhile, Lagos State Building Control Agency said occupants of the building which failed to heed its repeated warnings to vacate the house.
LASBCA Acting General Manager, Oyewale Joseph, said, yesterday, that the building collapsed due to weak foundation and use of substandard materials. “Before now, LABSCA district office on Lagos Island had served all statutory notices on this very building and having served all the notices, we have also sealed the building twice. Last Friday, the building was sealed off and all the occupants were chased out by the enforcement team of LABSCA,” he said.
“The developer took advantage of the long weekend and began illegal renovation of this building. There is no renovation permit and there is no letter from the supervising engineer,’’ Joseph said. The LASEMA boss that suggested that construction work was ongoing in the building already inhabited by people. He, however, said proper investigation would be carried out by the relevant government agencies, to ascertain actual circumstances that led to the collapsed of the building.
Last week, a two story building collapsed at Cole Street, Ebute Metta , which left a woman injured.
That incident came on the heels of another two-storey building collapse in the Lekki axis of the city, which killed two people.
