At least three persons have been confirmed dead, four rescued while unspecified numbers of persons were trapped in a 21-story building that collapsed on Gerald Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
As of 7.30 pm, Monday, rescue operation was still ongoing while the Military, Police, and other sister agencies have taken over the scene to avoid clashes between street urchins who were preventing emergency agencies who were on rescue and recovery operation from discharging their duties. It was gathered that the building under construction, collapsed a few minutes past 3 pm, causing pandemonium in the area as the loud noise from the collapsed building forced people to scamper for safety. Many people were seriously injured while running for Safety. Already the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA,) has activated its emergency response plan to the incident. The director-general of LASEMA, Dr. Olufemi Oke- Osanyintolu who confirmed the incident said rescue operations were ongoing. Policemen from the Area A Command and Ikoyi Police Station were said to have since arrived on the scene but were overwhelmed by the mammoth crowd which forced the police to call for reinforcement from other formations. The Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), in the South-West Region, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, said rescuers from NEMA, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), and medics from the State Ambulance Service, (LASEMBUS), we’re already on the ground. Farinloye said three persons have died and their bodies recovered while four persons have been rescued alive and effort was on going to rescuing others.
“Rescue operation has commenced. Four persons have been rescued and they are being treated by the medical crew of the Lagos State Emergency Ambulance Service (LASEMBUS). We are on the ground and we must finish the work today because we don’t want the repeat of what happened in Synagogue Church where it took emergency agencies eight days to finish the recovery”.
A witness, Emmanuel Sanda, said:” there is a strong indication that the owner of the building is among the construction workers trapped under the rubble. Some people said he is the owner, others said he is fronting for someone, but we know him as the owner. We saw him a few minutes before the building collapsed, so we are suspecting that he is under the rubble. Sanda said the police clashed with some people who claimed to be Journalists who came to came to cover the story and some street urchins. when the clash was becoming too tense, the police had to call in the military who have cordoned off the area to ward off hoodlums.
” In fact, when the building collapsed, we first scamper for safety because we thought it was a bomb explosion. We later came back and started calling all the emergency numbers that we had. We were lucky to get the police who arrived and started calling emergency agencies”. However, a senior Police Officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity told Cornerstonews that:” I can confirm authoritatively that Mr. Femi Osibona, the housing developer died in the rubble of the building.Osibona, the MD of Four Score, was the brain behind 360 Degrees Towers in Ikoyi. He was reportedly on a visit to the site of the building when it collapsed.
As at the time of filing this report, a rescue operation was still ongoing and Lagos State Commissioner of Police Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, was on the ground coordinating other emergency units while the State fire Service was on the ground to forestall fire outbreak.
The Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LATSMA) and Police traffic section have been massively deployed to the zone to control traffic.
Fully armed Soldiers and riot policemen were keeping vigil and preventing nonemergency personnel and suspected hoodlums from coming close to the place.
