No fewer than two more bodies of construction workers have been brought out under the collapsed three-storey building inside Oriwu Estate along Lekki-Epe expressway, Lagos State, increasing the death toll to four.
Aside from that, one person was rescued by the state emergency team hours after the building caved in, a development that brought number of survivors from the ill-fated structure to 15.
The National Emergency management Agency (NEMA) Lagos Office Coordinator, Ibrahim Farinloye, disclosed this to newsmen on Thursday amid ongoing search and rescue operations at the scene.
He said: “Additional 2 dead bodies retrieved from rubbles and 1 adult male was rescued as at this morning making 4 dead recovered and 15 rescued at the 3 Storey collapsed building incident at Oriwu Estate, Elf Busstop, Inward Ajah, Lekki/Epe expressway Lagos State.
Operations ongoing”.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, disclosed that the deceased were construction workers hired by the contractor to three-storey build which was under construction.
The deceased and injured construction workers were said to be working on the building to complete their task for the day when the structure under construction caved in on them.
The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, confirmed the number of causalities recorded under the rubbles of the ill-fated building in the state.
Oke-Osanyintolu disclosed that the tragedy occurred around 14:25 on yesterday, which was why the agency activated the State’s emergency response plans and response team from Lekki and Cappa bases.
The LASEMA boss, who stressed that the immediate cause of the incident is yet-to-be ascertained, disclosed that search and rescue operations have been intensified to prevent death toll from increasing.
