Nine dead, 21 injured, as four-storey building collapses

Nine people have died, with one person still missing and twenty-one persons injured as a result of the collapse, yesterday evening, of a four-storey building located at No. 42 Ojerinde Street, Idi-Araba. The dead are reported to include three children.

Rescue operations were a concerted affair as several rescue agencies and concerned citizens joined forces to search for survivors.

Officials of the Red Cross, Dublin Machinery Limited, Nigerian Police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Fire Service, Lagos State Emergency Management Authority, and local volunteers have continued rescue work at the site since yesterday.

Amidst thousands of horrified onlookers, the excavator brought by Dublin Machinery dug deeper into the huge mass of debris in search of the four people that were still reportedly trapped in the rubble.

"We rescued six [people] yesterday, one was alive and the rest were dead," said Dave Carey, Director of Dublin Machinery. "We have been here since yesterday, and have only gone on break for one hour. We will not leave until we rescue the remaining four people inside."

Hours later, the mangled bodies of three children were dug out of the rubble.

Most of the occupants of the building were at their places of work at the time of the incident.

"We are lucky this thing did not happen in the night," said Morenike Frederick, one of the occupants who was lucky to dash out at the nick of time. "Most of the men were not at home, only some women and children were inside when the thing happened."

Another tenant, Glory Christopher, was not as lucky. She sustained injuries on her face and legs.

"We were just surprised when the building started to shake," she spoke with some difficulty as a result of her bruised and swollen face. "I managed to bring my two children out of the building before it collapsed, but my husband could not come out in time. He died."

She was quickly transferred, along with the other injured tenants, to the nearby Aishat Specialist Hospital and then to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, for close medical attention.

"This is the first major collapse this year," says Ige Olajimeji, Resource Development Officer of the Lagos branch of The Red Cross.

"The house was formerly a one-storey building," says Nwachukwu Obilonu, who lives in a nearby building. "It was when the landlord died that his children converted it to four storeys. I doubt if the developer that handled the reconstruction made sure that the foundation was strong enough to carry the new weight."

What could have caused the collapse?

A civil engineer, Chikwelue Obi, observed that the materials used for the construction were of low quality.

"Look at the blocks, it contains more sand than cement," he said. "Look at the rods, they are too small for [constructing] a four-storey building. Look at that pool of water over there. It suggests that the soil here is waterlogged. I wonder what incompetent fool handled [the construction of] this building."

The Lagos State Commissioner of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Francisco Abosede, was at the scene to assess the damage and supervise rescue operations. He refused to comment on why the collapse of buildings has happened repeatedly in Lagos State and insisted that his priority was the ongoing rescue efforts.

Onlookers react

Most of the onlookers at the scene expressed shock at the incident and urged the government to take stronger steps to reduce the incidence of collapsed buildings.

"Some landlords can be very greedy and heartless," said Chinwendu Igwe, one of the onlookers. "How can he add three storeys on top of the existing one? On which foundation? Government should look more seriously into these kinds of buildings. Who knows when the next one will happen?"