TRAGEDY struck in Lagos early yesterday. A building caved in, killing seven occupants, including a two-year-old.
No fewer than seven others, including children, were rushed to hospitals injured, three among them in critical conditions.
The collapse of house 28, Oloto Street, Mainland area about 2.15 am, spread panic in the entire neighbourhood, notably, Herbert Macaulay and Willoughby Streets.
The three-storey building was said to have accommodated about 50 occupants.
Some of the survivors said they observed some unusual cracks and noise shortly before the building went down.
Information Officer of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the Southwest, Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, confirmed the death toll. He said seven persons, including two children between the ages of two and four, had been rescued and rushed to the hospital. Bodies of the dead, he added, were taken to the morgue.
The NEMA official said a two-year -old, three women and three men, died.
Farinloye said residents of the building told him that at about 1am, they started getting signs that all was not well with the building because of the sound they were hearing.
He said some of the tenants rushed out but after the sound subsided, they went back into the house. He said that about 2 am, the noise resumed, after which the building came down at about 2.15am.
Farinloye said residents got in touch with NEMA after 10 minutes, adding that the agency, with others, got to the site about 2.50am to start rescue operations which were still ongoing as at noon yesterday.
He said two buildings around the site of the collapsed building would be brought down “because they can no longer pass integrity test.”
He said occupants on the last floor escaped because their staircase was located behind the house, while those mostly affected were those on the middle and first floor.
“A woman and three children were trapped on the ground floor while another set of seven were trapped on the first floor when we arrived,” he explained.
Two Mainland Local Government Area Neighbourhood Watch officers, Adisa Kusheru and Adisa Shuaibu, recalled the incident. They said they tried to rescue the victimd before NEMA officials arrived
Excavators and other rescue equipment including a V-EGO machine fitted with cameras and sensors were being used at the site to detect where occupants were being trapped.
Balogun Kabiru, a survivor, attributed such incidents to greed on the part of developers and landlords.
Another victim at the Casualty Ward of the Lagos General Hospital, was said to be in stable condition.
He writhed in pain as a nurse was cleaning up his bruised body.
The victim struggled to narrate how the unfortunate incident happened as a doctor examined him. The doctor said his condition was stable.
Twelve of the victims were taken to Kuba Hospital. Its Medical Director, Dr Aaron Subete, said they were all in stable condition, adding that those with bad fractures would take x-ray and might be referred to the National Orthopaedic Hospital (NOH), Igbobi, Yaba.
One of treated victims, Mrs Edna Okonkwo, said she was sleeping when she suddenly heard a loud noise, adding: “I thought I was already dead and I started praying for my husband, unknown to me that he was safe and was searching for me. I sustained a little fracture on my right shoulder.”
Her husband, Ejike, who sat beside her, said he wanted to jump when the building fell, but that he used his hand to blow the ceiling for an escape route.
Another victim, Olayinka Mogaji, 28, a business man, said he was on the third floor when the tragedy happened.
At the site with NEMA officials were: Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA); men of the Civil Defence Corps and the police, who jointly provided security. The Lagos State Ambulance Service and the Red Cross were also on the rescue mission.
But government officials insisted that only four bodies were recovered from the rubble.
General Manager of state Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, who coordinated rescue operations, said: “We have rescued ten people and recovered four bodies so far. Rescue operation is on-going.
“We are on top of the challenges. We have extended rescue efforts to the ground floor. Before the building collapsed, a lot of occupants had vacated the premises”.
The LASEMA chief said the building were marked by the Lagos state Building Control Agency (LASBCA), for structural integrity test before the incident.
The Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Razak Fadipe whose agency was the first to arrive at the scene at 03:35 am warned Lagosians to report cases of dilapidated buildings to the appropriate authorities before it is too late. “When you live in an old house and notice a crack, it is important to notify the authorities because life lost cannot be replaced,” he said.
One of the survivors, Miss Balikis Abdulamid, said she was on the balcony of the second floor when the building came down.
She said her mother and her four siblings were also rescued, but were rushed to the hospital to treat their minor injuries.
She said they had noticed cracks on the walls of their rooms, adding that their father used to patch them up with cement.
In May, Governor Babatunde Fashola had set up a Tribunal of Enquiry to unravel the causes of building collapse in the state. The tribunal’s report is expected next month.
Also in Kaduna, a one-and-a-half month-old was trapped yesterday, when a two-storey building collapsed. Two persons were injured.
The commercial/residential building was on Hadjia Road, a few metres from the Kaduna Central Market.
Eye witnesses said when the building went down, many thought it was a bomb explosion.
Spokesperson of Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Abubakar Zakari Adamu, confirmed that two persons were injured, adding that they were taken to an undisclosed hospital for treatment.
Adamu said that one of the victims taken to the hospital, Fatima Abubakar, claimed that her one-month-old baby was trapped inside the building.
When The Nation visited the scene, part of the building was still falling, while sympathisers gathered, shell-shocked.
It was gathered that rescuers could not work for about two hours. Youths who wanted to make their way into the rubble for possible rescue operation were prevented by security operatives.
Cranes and loaders were busy evacuating the debris in search of survivors.
