Death toll in Lagos building collapse climbs to 8

Rescuers around midnight Sunday found the body of a woman in the rubble of a collapsed Lagos building, raising the death toll to eight.

Six men and two women have so far been recovered dead, and dozens injured at the site of the collapse at 60, Odo Street, Obalende, Eti-Osa LCDA in Lagos.

The woman was found at 11.52pm, and rescue is ongoing.

The seven uncovered previously in the rubble were handed over to the State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit (SEHMU) at the incident scene.

Asides the dead, 10 casualties were treated for minor injuries, 10 severely injured persons exhumed from the debris, tended, and transferred to hospital for further treatment.

The three-storey building which self-collapsed on Sunday evening was said to be under construction.

Investigations by the Lagos state emergency management agency (LASEMA) and other responders revealed that the collapsed building at the above stated address, had been sealed by the Lagos State Building Control Agency, (LASBCA) for obvious reasons of contraventions.

It was also revealed that the owner of the said structure had commenced clandestine operations in the wee hours of Sunday, an illegal action which directly resulted to the unfortunate incident that has so far loss of lives and several injured.

“According to eye witness accounts, casting of the third floor was in progress on Sunday, when the building suddenly collapsed at the illegal construction site. The increasing recorded losses where work recommenced earlier on Sunday, was attributed to the fact that, while some of the workers were busy working their shift, those who came off shift, were also at the illegal construction site relaxing before the disaster occurred,” LASEMA stated in a statement.

Though the exact number of buildings which collapsed in Lagos in 2020 could not be ascertained as at the time of writing this report, many cases have been reported already and in most cases, there were fatalities.

In a research by Assoc. Prof I.G Chendo and Arc. N. I. Obi at the Department of Architecture, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, buildings collapse in Nigeria due to human errors such as faulty design, faulty construction, and use of substandard building materials, negligence, omissions, ignorance, quackery, corruption and sabotage. The other factors is natural occurrence such as flood, earthquakes, heavy wind, among others.