Seven rescued, one missing in Lagos building collapse

. Properties worth millions of Naira destroyed as fire guts warehouse in Lagos

Seven persons have been rescued from the rubble of the building that collapsed in Banana Island, Lagos.
Another person was still trapped as at the time of filing this report.

Speaking on the new development, Director of LSFRS, Mrs. Magaret Adeseye, said one of the victims trapped under the rubble of the collapsed building remains missing.

She stated that the seven-storey building that collapsed in Banana Island is one out of the three highrise structures under construction in the area.

Her words “The other two are still standing at nine floors tall, most likely to undergo an integrity test soon.

“Seven rescued alive with varying degrees of injury while one is still trapped as search and rescue operations is still ongoing until ground zero is achieved,” Adeseye stated.

Giving an update on the building collapse, Deputy Director, Public Affairs Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mukaila Sanusi, said “an unapproved 7-floor building under construction collapsed.”

He said, “Few who sustained injuries are being treated. There is no fatality. This unfortunate incident happened while casting was being done.”

LASEMA speaks

Speaking on the situation report, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyitolu, said, “the collapsed building at 1st Avenue, Banana Island, Ikoyi, the Agency activated its response plan and upon arrival at the scene of the incident, discovered that a seven storey building under construction had collapsed.

“Inspection revealed that the building was damaged by a cement mixer truck, which drove into the building columns.

“A head count carried out by the Chief Security Officer, CSO, Anthony Onah of the construction site has an adult male unaccounted for. His where about is unknown.

“Operation ongoing- Agency’s excavator, forklift are on site while crane is enroute
Updates to follow.”

In another development, Goods and properties worth millions of naira have been destroyed as fire razed a complex housing five fully detached warehouses beside Nigerian Breweries, Iganmu, Apapa area of Lagos State.

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) confirmed the incident, saying that it happened around 11:00 am of today, Wednesday, April 12, 2023.

The Permanent Secretary of LASEMA, Dr. Femi Okey-Osanyintolu, said there was no casualty record during the tragic fire incident.

While the agency is still investigating the cause of the fire, Okey-Osanyintolu explained that upon arrival at the incident scene, LASEMA officials observed that a stand-alone diesel storage tank, a 33,000ltr tanker with no registration number, a mini tanker with registration number XV555-FKJ and a fiat bus with registration number unknown also gutted fire.

He said, “No life was lost and no injuries sustained to anyone as a result of the incident.

“The fire has been extinguished, (11 am) while dampening down is ongoing.

“However, the walls and pillars of the warehouse have been seriously affected by the intensity of the fire leading to various cracks and imminent collapse of the structure, the agency’s excavator will be required to pull down the warehouse structure in order to avert any crash on the responders and users of the environment,” the statement reads.

In a similar incident, a petrol station in Akure and a telecommunication mast substation in Ondo town have been razed by fire.

The fire in separate incidents was ignited when tankers were dispensing fuel at the two stations.

It was learnt that the fire at the petrol station occurred along Dammy bus stop in Ijoka area of Akure, the Ondo State capital.

The arrival of fire fighters prevented the fire from spreading to other buildings in the area.

In Ondo town, the fire occured at Oluwatoyin street, Akinjagunla area of Ondo west local government area.

Sources said the driver of the tanker dropped his lighted cigarette butt on the floor where he was offloading the diesel at an MTN mast service provider signal.

Some houses in the locality were affected by the inferno which was said to have occurred on Tuesday at about 1:30 pm.

An eyewitness Mr. Emmanuel Olorunmodupe said, “The fire broke out because of the cigarette butt the driver dropped on the floor when he wanted to offload diesel at the service provider signal.

“There was no fire fighters on ground to put out the inferno.”

Another source said the driver was injured and taken to an hospital for treatment.

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