A three-story structure on 2/4 Oyesonuga Street, Palm Avenue, off of Oye Roundabout in the Isolo Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos State unexpectedly collapsed on Friday, leaving three identifiable people missing and four people rescued. Tragedies continued to occur during the torrential downpour.
According to a witness, the incident took place during a thunderstorm about midday.
However, men from the Lagos State Rescue and Fire Service, Nigeria Police, and Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, or LASEMA, hurried to the scene to rescue casualties.
Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyitolu, LASEMA's Permanent Secretary,
A second three-story building existed adjacent to the one that collapsed, according to additional examination.
The building's four trapped occupants were rescued and given medical attention. As of press time at 2pm, two female residents of the building are still missing, according to Oke-Osanyitolu.
When the rescue squad arrived on the scene, there were obvious fissures on the building that was still intact that required immediate treatment.
As of 2:00 PM, the rescue team was still conducting search and rescue operations while cordoning off the buildings and evacuating the people.
Mr. Tunde Ariyo, an eyewitness, claims that "three people are still missing in the rubble and they might be dead or alive by now." An adult and a toddler were initially retrieved alive.
Before emergency personnel arrived, it was said that sympathizers and first aiders saved the surviving.
Patient describes ordeal
The building has been displaying indications of distress, but the landlord keeps patching it up in pieces, according to a small-time soft drink seller who works beneath the structure who only went by the name Mrs. Bassey. I'm curious as to why government employees missed it.
Mrs. Bassey claimed that her refrigerator was recently stocked before the building collapsed and begged for entry so she could remove and save some of her goods from the wreckage.
LASG responds
In the meantime, at around 3 p.m., the state government, through LASEMA, started the process of demolishing the other building and bringing the partially collapsed three-story building to ground zero for safety reasons.
LASG requests a thorough study on the cause.
The state government has ordered a prompt inquiry to identify the immediate and underlying causes of the collapse, according to the commissioner for physical planning and urban development, Engr. Omotayo Bamgbose-Martins, who was responding to the terrible tragedy.
Speaking at the scene of the fall, Bamgbose-Martins said that the Friday midday collapse was a partial collapse of a structure that was more than 40 years old.
He said that while efforts were being made to identify the cause of the collapse, he gave the order to demolish the neighboring building for safety concerns in order to prevent further harm.
The incident was regretted, Bamgbose-Martins said, adding that "effort is being made to take out anybody who may be stuck in the rubble."
"The Lagos State Building Control Agency, LASBCA, and the Lagos State Materials Testing Laboratory have been asked to swing into action to unravel the reason of the collapse," he said, "while the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency have now started conducting rescue efforts."
The commissioner expressed his condolences to the neighborhood's citizens and occupants while promising that the government would take action to prevent future occurrences of this kind.
source: vanguardngr
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