Emergency officials in Lagos were by evening still searching for the bodies of two toddlers washed away by flood on Saturday.
The children were swept away at Oyebanjo Solarin Street, Ketu, in the flood that accompanied Saturday’s downpour in many parts of Lagos.
Daily Trust reports that emergency officials were notified of the incident at about 8pm on Saturday, but the bodies of the children were yet to be found by the time of filing this report.
The Director-General of the state emergency management agency (LASEMA), Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyitolu, giving an update on the incident yesterday, said, “The agency received distress calls concerning the incident. On arrival at the scene of the incident, it was discovered that around 8pm, two children had been caught up by flood water.
“A joint team of responders comprising agency responders, LASG Fire Service and LASAMBUS were at the scene. The Agency’s tiger team commenced a search-and-rescue operation along the path of the flood water.”
Emergency responders were said to have continued the search for the bodies of the children yesterday morning, with the LASEMA Director of Operations, Engineer Olatunde Adesanya, leading the exercise.
A spokesman of LASEMA, Nosa Okunbor, told our correspondent yesterday that a more stringent search was extended to about a 500-metre radius along the canal way, with the officials also enquiring from residents if they found the missing bodies.
LASEMA also commenced sensitization in the entire area, urging the residents to desist from dumping their wastes inside the drainage systems to allow for free flow of water.
