No fewer than four persons were feared dead while five were rescued when a storey building collapsed, yesterday, at Sunny Filled, Flour Mills, Estate, Magbon, Badagry, Lagos.
This came barely two weeks after a 21-storey building collapsed in Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos killing about 45 persons and injuring 15.
It was gathered that the victims, mainly construction workers, that were rescued, sustained injuries and are in stable conditions at nearby hospitals.
Director, Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Mrs Margaret Adeseye, who confirmed the incident, said the incident occurred at 1 p.m.
Adeseye said: “The Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Badagry Station had rescued five victims from the under-construction building while concerted efforts are ongoing to rescue the remaining trapped victims.
“The victims, which are mainly construction workers, are, however, rescued with injuries but in stable condition. “Four adults male have been recovered (unconscious) thus far as the Police, Morogbo Division and the community dwellers are complimenting the efforts of the the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service.”
A witness, Oluwagbenga Ogundele, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the building collapsed on the nine construction workers on site around 3 p.m.
Ogundele, who works as security guard near the site, told NAN that residents were alerted to the scene by a visitor to the site.
“The visitor was not in the building when it collapse, it was him that called for assistance while policemen from Area ‘K’ came to rescue them.
“We were able to rescue five alive because they were calling for help, while four of them gave up the ghost.
“Police, Fire Brigade and our intervention saved those that survived,” the witness told NAN.
NAN also reports that the five injured labourers were taken to Catholic Church Hospital, Magbon, while the four dead bodies had been deposited at Badagry General Hospital mortuary.
One of the elders in the Estate who spoke on condition of anonymity, told NAN that the building had been abandoned by the owner for close to six years before work resumed on it recently.
“It was recently that a new owner started building another floor on top to make it a storey building.
“Around 3p.m., we had a loud sound and when we got to the scene, the building had collapsed on the labourers working inside it,” he said.
Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, South-West Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed the incident to NAN.
Farinloye said that four persons died while five sustained injuries during the collapse.
NAN reports that officials of the Lagos State Building Agency (LABCA) have sealed up the premises of the collapsed building.
