Residents of the three-storey building on Swamp Street, Lagos Island, who were thrown into mourning and confusion, Wednesday, have recounted their loses and called on the Government to come to their rescue.
As at yesterday, government agents and other relief workers were seen at the scene evacuating those who were trapped in the disaster.
In the same vein, a septuagenarian was later rescued around 2pm, reportedly about four/five hours after the tragedy struck. She was however, placed on oxygen and receiving medical attention at the Lagos Island General Hospital at the moment.
Punch reports that apart from the woman, five others sustained injuries in the incident which happened shortly after children living in the building left for their respective schools.
While four victims were rushed to the Sura Primary Health Centre, a woman, identified only as Ronke, was admitted at the Sura Health Centre on the Island.
A doctor at the health centre, who did not want his name mentioned, said, “Of the four victims that were rushed here, three persons sustained minor injuries and have been treated and discharged. The fourth person, a man, has been referred to the Lagos Island General Hospital for proper treatment.”
Some residents reportedly escaped unhurt through the back of the house, which was not affected.
Some residents said they lost cash and other valuables worth millions to the disaster, adding that the estate developer in charge of the building had been advised on the need for a complete renovation of the house on several occasions.
One of them, Alhaji Sharafadeen Agunbiade, recounted the moment that the building came down.
He said, “I came back to pick something that I forgot at home. I was about to enter when the building collapsed. My wife, Ronke, who was on the second floor, was buried in the rubble. But she was rescued and taken to the Ajike Sanda Memorial Medical Centre. She injured her hand and head, but she is stable now.
“Thank God our children have gone to school. All our belongings have been trapped. But I am grateful to God that I did not lose any of my family.
“We have told the developer several times to renovate the building. He said he wanted to renovate the pillar of the house.”
Another resident, Saidi Balogun, who deals in clothes and wrist watches, said the goods he just bought and some money were trapped in the rubble.
He said, “My goods are there worth millions of naira because I just bought them. The building had been like that for years. I moved in four years ago. It was my mechanic who called me to come and pick my car. The moment I stepped out, the building came down. My wife had gone to the market and our children had gone to school.”
A university graduate, Muibat Alatise, said she was left with nothing and appealed to the government for help.
“My possessions are there, including my certificates. We are appealing to the government to come to our aid. The losses are much,” she said.
An eyewitness, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said one of the landlords of the house, identified only as Osile, fled the scene immediately the incident happened.
The Secretary of the Lagos Island Residents, Mr. Lukman Omotosho, urged the government to take decisive actions on distressed buildings in the community.
He said, “About five people were rescued on time. We have advised the landlords to renovate the building. Instead, they said they had met up with the government standard. I think with this, government will take appropriate steps.”
The Lagos State Commissioner for Special Duties and Inter-governmental Relations, Seye Oladejo, said the government had already sealed some buildings in the area.
He said, “We have received information as regards other distressed buildings around here. Some of the buildings have been sealed up. We have been doing evacuation and we are going to pull them down.
“We just want to advise citizens not to endanger their lives. Residents of such buildings are not unaware that they are distressed. They should bring it to the attention of the government and I can assure that we will act promptly.”
The General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Michael Akindele, said rescue agencies responded swiftly to the incident.
He said, “We recovered the distress call at about 9am and we activated all the responders to ensure that we have a smooth rescue operation. So far, we have no record of loss of life. We had five people that sustained injuries. Other agencies will investigate the immediate and remote causes of the collapse.”
The General Manager, Lagos State Building Control Agency, Shola Aderibigbe, said the building was marked for integrity test while a 14-day ultimatum was served on the occupants.
“For this building, we served them a 14-day ultimatum, which expired before today. We asked them to conduct structural stability test and they agreed. We were still waiting for them to conduct the test before the building collapsed.
“The test would have helped us to ascertain if the building was distressed or not.
“Some buildings can be defective but when the test is conducted, we will be able to know if the building should be renovated or demolished,” Aderibigbe added.
Meanwhile, reports say the building, before it collapsed, had been a threat since 2008 with several cracks on its wall.
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