Lagos collapsed building: Death toll rises, 23 rescued

Six persons have been recovered dead, including the body of a woman and her child from the three-storey building that collapsed Sunday night at Ebute Meta, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said on Monday morning.

It said the deceased, including a bread seller, her adult foster son, David, an elderly woman, Iya Tahin with her son, Tahin, an aged man with hearing impairment as well as another woman were recovered between 2am and 7:15am.

According to NEMA’s acting Southwest Coordinator, Ibrahim Farinloye, the bread seller was praying Salat, an Islamic prayer, when the building collapsed.

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The building located at 24, Ibadan Street, Ebute Meta, a densely populated Lagos neighbourhood, caved in around 9:48pm on Sunday.

Farinloye said they were recovered in the wee hours of Monday, adding that a total of 23 persons have so far been rescued.

Among those rescued were seven children and 16 adults with nine of them already discharged after first aid treatment.

According to Farinloye, the discharged nine returned to the scene but were taken away by emergency workers for proper custody.

He said psychosocial and trauma counselling were being arranged for them by the Nigerian Red Cross.

At the time of this report, search and rescue operations were still ongoing as more people were feared trapped underneath the rubble.

Meanwhile, another three-storey building located about 200 metres from the collapsed one has been sealed off by emergency workers and its occupants evacuated.

The sealing of the building said to be on 100 Lagos Street, followed obvious distress signs noticed by rescuers.

Although the said building was previously marked as distressed by officials of the Lagos State Buildings Control Agency (LABSCA), its occupants were said to have been deviant until they were forcefully evacuated this morning.