No fewer than eight persons have been confirmed dead after a three-storey building collapsed in the Ebute Metta area of Lagos State.
The affected building, located at No. 38 Ibadan Street along Herbert Macaulay Way, went down on Sunday night.
A mother and her child were among those recovered dead from the rubble, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said on Monday.
NEMA’s Zonal Coordinator in the South West, Ibrahim Farinloye, who confirmed this revealed that 23 people have been rescued so far.
The latest incident is the second building collapse to be recorded in the Yaba-Ebute Metta axis of the state in almost three months.
Another three-storey building collapsed in the Onike area of Yaba on February 13, resulting in several casualties after the developer of the project reportedly returned to the site despite a stop-work order on the structure.
Farinloye, said 23 people comprising seven children and 16 adults trapped in the rubble have been brought out alive.
Nine of those rescued, he stated, have been treated and discharged, adding that the Nigeria Red Cross was making provision for psycho-social and trauma counselling for them.
part from the mother and child earlier recovered dead, the NEMA official confirmed the death of six other victims, including an elderly man who had a hearing impairment and a young man simply identified as Tahin.
He revealed that another three-storey building located on 100 Lagos Street – about 200 metres away from the structure that collapsed on Sunday has shown signs of distress.
Farinloye stated that the building had since been marked as distressed, but its occupants have remained defiant.
President Muhammadu Buhari has commiserated with the families of those who died, sustained injuries, and were affected by the building collapse in the Ebute Metta area of Lagos State.
With search and rescue ongoing at the site, he prayed for divine assistance in the operations and wished those injured a speedy recovery.
The President expressed his sympathy on Monday in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.
“The President, who is pained by this tragic incident, salutes the courage and determination of the first responders, national and sub-national emergency agencies in Lagos State, and compassionate Nigerians, whose immediate action in the aftermath of the collapse of the three-storey building led to the rescue of several persons, including many children,” the statement said.
According to him, the frequency of building collapses in the country has become increasingly embarrassing.
President Buhari, therefore, urged the relevant state authorities to work closely with professional bodies to put a halt to such incidents which he described as unfortunate but preventable.
