A building collapsed yesterday after a heavy rain, killing two children and injured four others at House 49, Gafari Balogun Street, Ogudu area of Lagos.
A staff of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency who spoke on the condition of anonymity said many people were still trapped in the rubbles. According to him, the agency received a distress call at 12:40 pm about a collapsed building at Ogudu area of the state and raced to the scene where dead bodies of two children were recovered while two others were rescued and rushed to the hospital. He said,
“As I am talking to you, we don’t know the number of persons trapped. Residents are confused and cannot give us the real number of persons that were inside the rubbles or those who went out before the building collapsed. We are having conflicting stories. So we are not sure of the real casualties”.
However, the Director-General /Chief Executive officer, LASEMA, Dr. Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu, maintained that only two children died in the building collapse. He said that the collapse was a result of a mudslide at the rear of the building caused by heavy rainfall.
“The emergency agencies were informed that two children, one male, and one female were trapped and we immediately commenced a search-and-rescue operation. Unfortunately, two were found dead and their remains have been deposited in a mortuary.
Integrity testing will be carried out on the remainder of the building which has now been cordoned off”.
