By Our Reporter
More people have been confirmed killed and more survivors rescued hours after a high-rise building collapsed in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State.
The incident which occurred on Monday afternoon along Wesley Road in the commercial hub of the nation.
While four persons were killed and five others rescued as of Monday night, the death toll and number of survivors rose on Tuesday as rescue efforts continued through the night.
According to the spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), 11 more bodies have been recovered.
He added that five more persons trapped under the rubble have been rescued by emergency responders at the scene.
This brings the total figures of those killed and rescued so far to 15 and 10 respectively.
The Deputy Governor of Lagos, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, who visited the site amid tight security, explained that the premise of the collapsed building has been sealed by the government agency in charge of testing, for more investigation into the integrity of the structure.
A high-rise building in Ikoyi, Lagos, collapsed on November 1, 2021.
Emergency workers on a rescue operation at the site of the collapsed building in Ikoyi, Lagos on November 1, 2021.
Emergency workers have intensified rescue operations as more people are believed to be trapped under the rubble.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, Lagos State Chapter, David Majekodunmi, also visited the site of the building collapse.
He lamented that unfortunate incidents such as this should not have happened if authorities had done what was expected of them.
“My first impression is that the country is in a mess. We are in a mess because if we have done what we are supposed to do, either on the private or government side, we wouldn’t be having this kind of incident.
“Like it’s said by (Femi) Falana, the renowned lawyer, about six or seven weeks precisely where we have all the allied professionals in the construction industry together, he said ‘we should stop talking about building collapse; go and search yourselves, what is your regulatory building doing? Your regulatory body is supposed to regulate things like this,” said Majekodunmi.
He added, “Looking at this, you can’t determine what is actually the cause of the collapse. In a nutshell, we are standing in front of the signage which is supposed to be a prerequisite at a site.
“You cannot see the name of the architect, the structural engineer, and other consultants. But there is so much going on on the platform where the number written on all these consultants happens to be the developer.
“I will tell you just a little history because the government has a big fault for this. In 1986, a National Building Code was drafted by all the professional bodies in the construction industry – seven of them. This National Building Code was not signed until 20 years after it was drafted.”
Meanwhile, Lagos State Government has given an update on the ongoing rescue operation at the site of the Monday building collapse in Ikoyi. A total of nine persons have been brought out alive from the rubbles, the Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, said at the scene on Tuesday.
Hamzat, in company of cabinet members, said 10 bodies were removed from the rubbles after an overnight search and rescue operation by a combined team of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), with the support of construction giants, Julius Berger and China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC).
Actual number of people trapped in the collapsed uncompleted structure remains unknown at the time of the Deputy Governor’s visit, but Hamzat said some of the workers interviewed gave the figure between 24 and 28.
Three of nine persons evacuated alive have been discharged from the hospital. The victims were being treated at Lagos Island General Hospital in Marina.
The Deputy Governor said: “Our search and rescue operation is ongoing to remove those possibly still trapped under the rubbles. Our focus right now is to get people out alive. This morning, we took out two people alive and they are responding well to treatment in the hospital.
“Totally, we have evacuated nine people alive and three of them have been discharged. We have also sadly taken out 10 dead bodies. We believe there could be more people trapped in the building but all our efforts are focused on rescue.”
Hamzat condemned what he called “needless gathering” of people who had nothing to do with the rescue operation at the scene, stressing that their presence was distracting those involved in the search efforts.
“What is currently happening at the site of the incident is a search and rescue operation. It is not so good to have a lot of people at the site. Sometimes, the rescuers require silence to be able to hear the voices of those who may still be trapped. The operation is ongoing and we hope we will be able to rescue more. We will not leave the site until we are able to account for everyone in the building,” Hamzat said.
The Deputy Governor disclosed that the collapsed structure had been sealed off by the State Government last June because of low structural integrity test and demanded the anomaly be corrected before the construction could be allowed to go on.
Hamzat said the project manager was being expected to report back to the Government on details of the correction before the incident.
The Deputy Governor assured the public that the full investigation ordered by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, would yield an outcome that would lead to the next line of action.
Hamzat, in company of Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries, visited the Lagos Island General Hospital to see victims being treated.