By Ken Afor
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) says it has rescued eight individuals trapped in a collapsed four-storey building located at 15, Iga Idungaran, near the palace of the Oba of Lagos, Rilwanu Akiolu, on Lagos Island.
The agency made this known in a statement issued by LASEMA’s Permanent Secretary, Dr. Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu.
According to the statement, the agency received distress calls early on Thursday, May 30, prompting an immediate response. Upon arrival at the scene, they discovered that a four-story residential building had collapsed.
The a statement added that preliminary investigations conducted by LASEMA personnel revealed that the immediate cause of the collapse was likely due to ongoing renovation work on the building, which had previously been marked by the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) for evacuation.
Further investigations are underway to determine the exact circumstances leading to the incident, Oke-Osanyintolu said.
“A total of 10 people were trapped under the rubble, eight of them – seven adult males and one female – have been rescued and treated by the Pre-Hospital Care Unit of the Agency before they were transferred to the Iga Idunganran Primary Health Care Centre for more medical treatment.”
Oke-Osanyintolu emphasised that rescue operations were ongoing to locate and evacuate the remaining two victims believed to be trapped under the debris of the collapsed building.
He stated that a multi-agency response team, comprising the LASEMA Shark team, Lagos Rescue Unit (LRU) paramedics, officials from LASBCA, the Lagos Neighborhood Safety Corps (LNSC), the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority (LASPPPA), the Lagos Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS), the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, and the Nigeria Police Force are actively involved in the search and rescue efforts at the incident scene.
The New Diplomat reports that Thursday’s incident comes just four days after a mosque collapsed on Yusuf Street in the Papa Ajao area of Mushin on Sunday, May 26, killing at least three worshippers, including a 12-year-old boy.
