The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency confirmed on Thursday that three site workers died when a building collapsed at Arowojobe Estate in the Maryland area of Lagos.
LASEMA’s Permanent Secretary, Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, shared the news in a statement with the News Agency of Nigeria.
Dr. Oke-Osanyintolu said, “The incident occurred at No. 13, Wilson Mba Street, Arowojobe Estate, Maryland, Lagos. The agency received a distress call about a collapsed building at around 3:49 am.”
He added, “This prompted the immediate activation of our response team, who arrived at the scene at 3:58 am. It was discovered that a set of three terraces under construction had collapsed.”
The statement continued, “Search and rescue operations began right away. Three adult males were recovered dead, while two were rescued alive. One additional male, trapped under the rubble, was also rescued.”
The rescue efforts were a combined effort of LASEMA, the Lagos State Fire Service, and the Nigeria Police. Dr. Oke-Osanyintolu said, “All six men involved were site workers. They are receiving pre-hospital care on-site. The State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit has been contacted to handle the remains of the three deceased workers.”
LASEMA has deployed an excavator to speed up the search and rescue operations.
Building collapses have been a frequent issue in Lagos, exacerbated by recent flooding. Earlier this month, seven people were rescued from a two-storey building collapse in Mushin. In May, ten others were rescued from a building collapse in Isale Eko.
In a related incident, a school collapse in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State in July resulted in 22 deaths and 132 injuries.
The Lagos State government is being urged to enhance building safety regulations to prevent such tragedies in the future.
