PHOTO- EBUTE-METTA

REMAINS FROM THE BUILDING-Oloto Street, Ebute-metta.

Good day, I promised to furnish you with the details concerning the three storey building that collapsed at Ebute-metta yesterday

WHAT HAPPENED?

A three-storey building collapsed on Oloto Street, Ebute Meta, Lagos on Thursday morning, leaving no fewer than seven people dead, while seven others were critically injured.

ANY CASUALTIES?

Yes ! Among the dead were a one-year-old baby and the mother, a pregnant woman and her husband. An unspecified number of occupants of the house were still trapped in the rubble.

The baby was found dead on the chest of the mother. The husband and the rest of their children, however, survived.

TIME OF OCCURRENCE?

The building came down around 2am while residents were still sleeping.

ANY ATTEMPT TO GET RESCUE AGENCIES AND ANY RESPONSE FROM THEM?

One of them, Dr. Femi Adagunduro, said immediately the building collapsed, he made a call to the state emergency lines. He added that there was no response until 7am, when rescue officials started arriving at the scene.

He said, “Perhaps the casualty figure would not have been high if the rescue officials had responded on time. I called them about seven different times, and they kept telling me they were coming.”

He explained that many people in the area had noticed the poor state of the building, adding that nothing was done about it.

WHAT DELAYED OUR SO CALLED “ rescue agencies’’ ?

The General Manager of Lagos state Emergency Management Agency, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, said, “Immediately we heard, we activated our emergency response plan. So far, we have been able to save 10 lives, and we recovered three bodies.”

The spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency, South West, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, said a total of seven people died, while another seven were rescued.

He said, “A total of 14 people were trapped in the building. We brought out seven alive, although they were critically injured and had to be taken to the hospital. But unfortunately, seven other people died.”

The Commissioner for Special Duties, Dr. Wale Ahmed, said workers from the state’s ministry of works were already moving round the area to mark houses that were not safe for habitation.

WHO OWNS THE BUILDING?

It was gathered that the building was owned by one ALHAJI YAQUB OLADIMEJI.

ANY SURVIVOR(S) …..IF  ANY TESTIMONIES  PLEASE ?

A survivor, Mr. Ayodeji Adebayo, explained that the building had shown signs of weakness before it collapsed.

He said, “I was lucky to come out safely with my family. The incident happened within just five minutes.

“One of our neighbours heard a sound as the building was collapsing and raised the alarm. Some of us were thus able to rush out and escaped being trapped.

Another survivor, Mr. Ufuoma Ejiro, said, “I was about to sleep when I heard some sound like that of a breaking wall. I investigated and noticed that it was the wall of our building that was collapsing. I shouted to alert people and within five minutes the whole building had collapsed.”

I PRAY IN YORUBA "aa ooo ni ri iru eleyi mo oo" amin Jesu!

CFR reporters.