Two yet-to-be-identified persons on Sunday lost their lives when a seven-storey building under construction caved in at Oba Idowu Oniru Street in the Victoria Island area of Lagos State.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the victims alongside other persons were at the site when the building collapsed around 3am on Sunday.
While some of the occupants escaped death by a whisker, it was learnt that some other persons, who were unlucky, were trapped in the rubble of the collapsed building.
During a visit to the scene of the incident, our correspondents observed sympathisers clustering around the entrance of the collapsed building.
Emergency responders including officials of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, and the police, among others, were also seen engaging in a search and rescue operation to rescue the trapped victims.
Our correspondents also observed that as the building under construction caved in, it landed on a one-storey building beside it and damaged a portion of the building.
A resident of the one-storey building, who gave his name only as Segun for security reasons, said he was asleep when he heard a loud bang in their apartment.
“We almost died when the building collapsed. It was the first floor that collapsed on our apartment that woke us. We were still arguing whether the remaining would collapse or not when the whole building caved in.
“We were trapped inside when it happened. We could not open the door; we had to come out through the window. I don’t sleep anytime I come to Lagos because of this building.
“I know an old man who is a bricklayer on the site of the collapsed building. He is about 75-year-old and I still saw him yesterday afternoon,” Segun said.
One of the labourers at a construction site opposite the site of the collapsed structure, who identified himself only as Idris, said he observed some structural defects while the building was under construction, adding that the load on the building was much.
Idris said, “I am aware that the building started from scratch around June 2021. I noticed a bend in the building when it got to the fourth floor but couldn’t complain to anyone in order to avoid embarrassment or being seen as an intruder.
“They won’t even listen or allow me to come near the building because of the inferiority complex. Only those far from the building can notice structural defects at the fourth.
“The load on the building was too much and the building should not have got to the eighth floor at all. I am usually afraid of the site of the building and always careful enough not to spend up to one minute close to it.”
A security man at the site of the collapsed building, who gave his name only as Abdullahi, said he escaped the tragedy because he doesn’t sleep at night while guarding the building, adding that some workers were sleeping when it started shaking.
He said, “There were too many complaints of missing building materials stolen from the site at night, so I was much awake when the incident happened.
“I was standing at the security post away from the uncompleted building when it started shaking. I quickly called out to the workers who were still sleeping at that time, but it was too late for many of them to respond before the building collapsed.
“About seven of them were trapped under the rubble of the seven-storey building, but two have been brought out dead. I don’t know if the rest are dead or alive. I am so shocked right now.”
Contacted, the Lagos Territorial Coordinator, NEMA, Ibrahim Farinloye, said the search and rescue was still ongoing, adding that the operation was at ground zero.
“As earlier stated, two bodies have been found and six others are said to be trapped down in the rubble of the building. The rescue team is currently at ground zero and the rubble has been turned over to make sure there are no survivors or dead bodies still trapped in the rubble.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, in his reaction to the development, said, “Two bodies have been recovered so far. No arrest has been made and once we apprehend anyone, we will inform the public.”
However, the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Idris Salako, in a statement, ordered the arrest of the developer and other professionals involved in the collapsed building.
The statement read in part, “The developer and professionals on the building are liable for their disregard for the planning laws of the state, having embarked on construction without a valid planning permit and ignoring official warnings against continuing the building works.”
