One body recovered from collapsed seven-storey building in Lagos

Rescue workers at the site of the collapsed seven-storey building which collapsed in Banana Island, Ikoyi area of Lagos, last Wednesday, have recovered the body of one person after two days of search operations.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) had disclosed, Thursday, that it has rescued seven persons from the building which collapsed, Wednesday, with no fatalities.

The building was still under construction when it caved in, trapping some workers at the construction site.

A press statement by the Commissioner of Information, Lagos State, Gbenga Omotosho, Friday, disclose that rescue workers of the State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) unearthed the remains of the adult male previously unaccounted for by site supervisors.

According to him, 25 persons were rescued from the site when the building went down on Wednesday.

“One body has been recovered from the rubble of the collapsed building at 1st Avenue, Banana Island, Ikoyi. Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) workers’ search and recovery efforts unearthed the remains of the adult male hitherto unaccounted for by site supervisors. The excavation of the site, using the architectural designs, continues.

“The site has been divided into quadrants for a painstaking search and rescue operation. Quadrants 2 and 3 have been levelled to ground zero, with the search operation completed. Quadrant 4 is ongoing.

“25 people were rescued from the site when the building went down on Wednesday. They are all doing fine. When a roll call was done by the site supervisors, everyone was accounted for. Nobody could ascertain whether the victim whose body was found this morning was on the site – as of the time the roll call was taken,” Omotosho said.

Providing an update on the incident, Thursday, the Lagos Territorial Coordinator of NEMA, Ibrahim Farinloye, said apart from the rescued victims, one person was rushed to a hospital where he is being treated.

“We started moving from one layer to another and during this emergency response, we were able to rescue seven people alive.

“Those people that were rescued were treated on the spot and discharged. It is only one that was taken to a private hospital where he is receiving adequate treatment,” he disclosed.

The NEMA chief hailed the emergency responders for their swiftness, assuring that the agency won’t leave any stone unturned to ensure that “nobody is left there and the job is being done professionally”.

For other buildings on the construction site, Farinloye said “we are going to carry out holistic investigations” about them.

It would be recall that the state government, Wednesday, commenced investigations into the incident.

“The Lagos State government has swung into action. We are ensuring that some tests will be done by some engineers,” the Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Duties, Mobolaji Obelende, told reporters at the site.

“We have all our agencies here – LASBCA, Ministry of Physical Planning, and others – doing what they are supposed to do professionally.

“Once that is done, we would be able to ascertain the current status and the next step would be taken,” he added.

In March, this year, the state government, through the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), issued a final notice to owners ahead of a planned demolition of a total of 349 defective and distressed buildings.

The agency said the final notice on the affected buildings is for their owners to conduct the Non-Destructive Test (NDT) ‘and carry out the recommendations of the Test which may include re-engineering/renovation or removal as the case may be.’

The agency further explained that the planned demolition is aimed at curbing the menace of building collapse.

The affected buildings, LASBCA were found to be exhibiting various signs of distress across the state.

The list of affected structures was published that in March 25, as the agency claimed the owners had failed to conduct a Non-Destructive Test (NDT) on them in order to ascertain the buildings’ structural stability.

According to the General Manager of LASBCA, Mr. Gbolahan Owodunni Oki, statutory notices were duly served on the owners/developers to carry out the much-needed NDT, just as he added that the agency is yet to receive responses from the owners or developers of the structures.

“In furtherance to the Lagos Government’s commitment to curbing the menace of building collapse, LASBCA has identified and published the list of 349 buildings found to be exhibiting various signs of distress across the state.

“The suspected distressed structures were identified through a thorough monitoring exercise aimed at preventing collapse and its attendant effects such as loss of lives and properties.”

Oki added that all the identified structures have signs which indicate that they might not be fit for human habitation, some of those signs include cracks, spalling, bulging, exposed reinforcement, sinking and tilting, hence the need to conduct Non-Destructive Test (NDT) on them to ascertain their structural stability.

The LASBCA boss noted that though statutory notices were duly served on the owners/developers to carry out the much-needed NDT, the agency is yet to receive responses from the owners or developers of the structures.

Speaking further, Oki said that the publication is therefore a final notice given to the affected building owners to conduct the NDT and carry out the recommendations of the Test which may include re-engineering/renovation or removal as the case may be.

It is, however, not clear if the collapsed building on Banana Island is among the 349 listed for demolition by the government.