BY ROTIMI DUROJAIYE
President Muhammadu Buhari, has commiserated with families who lost loved ones in the 22-storey building collapse in Lagos.
The President, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, shared the sad moment with people and government of Lagos State, urging authorities to step up efforts in rescue operations.
He charged emergency institutions, including hospitals, to provide all the necessary support to safeguard lives of the rescued.
The President prayed for God’s intervention in the ongoing rescue operations.
Many people were feared trapped as a building collapsed in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State on Monday.
It was learnt that the incident happened a few minutes past 2 pm.
The spokesperson for the Lagos State Emergency Agency, Nosa Okunbo, confirmed the collapse, saying, “A 25-storey building collapsed by Musliu Junction, Ikoyi, Lagos,” saying “LASEMA is on top of the situation.”
Also, the Director-General of LASEMA, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, noted that heavy-duty equipment and life detection equipment have been deployed to the scene.
While giving an update, Oke-Osanyintolu said, “Collapsed Building at Gerard Road, Ikoyi: The agency has activated its emergency response plan to the above incident.
“All first responders are en route to secure the scene while the heavy-duty equipment and life detection equipment have been dispatched.”
Three persons were said to have been rescued from the rubble of the collapsed building by volunteers and emergency agencies on the ground.
The rescued victims have since been rushed to an undisclosed hospital for medical attention.
Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Obafemi Hamzat, later arrived at the scene of the incident.
Four people were confirmed dead and their bodies recovered from the collapsed building while effort was ongoing to ensure more rescue.
This was according to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, who spoke to newsmen at the scene of the incident.
He, however, could not ascertain the cause of the collapse, saying it should be left to technical experts.
What caused the collapse and how many people are trapped under the rubble remains unclear.
The building, intended to be a luxury block of flats, came down at about 2pm in the upmarket district of Ikoyi.
A construction worker Eric Tetteh, 41, said that his teams had been waiting for an excavator to arrive at the site when the building suddenly fell.
“Me and my brother, we escaped, but more people are there – more than 100 people,” he said.
A witness who was working in an office building opposite the site claimed that he heard a sound, looked out of his window and “saw the building literally going down floor by floor.”
Hamzat was met by crowds of angry people who accused emergency workers of not starting rescue efforts soon enough.
There have been several building collapses in Lagos in recent years.
In 2019, 10 people died after a school collapsed.
Also in 2014, a six-storey building fell during a service by a celebrity televangelist, killing 116 people.
