LAGOS: Death Toll Hits 18, 13 Rescued, Several Injured

Safety management agencies at the site

THE number of persons who lost their lives at the scene of the 5-storey building that collapsed on Tuesday morning has increased to eighteen while 13 were rescued alive and several others injured, according to the official report of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

NEMA SouthWest media Coordinator, Ibrahim Farinloye who disclosed the record stated that NEMA collaborated with other safety management agencies immediately they arrived at the site of the mishap. 

Among the victims trapped were a woman with her two children, artisans , site workers and other persons who according to investigations had opted to sleep over due to transport fares since they were to resume work the following morning within the environment.

In a statement by the Lekki Gardens, the owners of the property confirming the mishap, the management stated that construction of the building was suspended on a notice of a structural defects on the building since January 2016 adding that it has put a machinery in place towards unveiling the actual cause of the collapse.

It however regretted the number of casualties recorded, nevertheless stated that in line with the safety standards which the company observed in totality, all its sites closed for work at 6:00pm daily and wondered how the building that collapsed about 4:00am fell on people leading to such deaths and number of injured persons.

“The management of Lekki Gardens has confirmed an unfortunate incident today, Tuesday March 8th, 2016 where a building collapsed at about 4.am. in the morning, at one of its residential estate project in Lekki. The building which was under construction was meant to house number of apartment units but construction work had been suspended in January 2016 over reported structural defects.

“Rescue work started immediately and so far 7 people have been reported dead and others injured. The exact cause of the incident is not known at this time. All of our incident response procedure have been initiated, our support services have been mobilized and relevant authorities have been advised. As regards said building, investigation are being carried out to ascertain the cause of the collapse.

“In line with our usual safety standards, all sites are closed off by 6pm daily and it is mandatory that every worker leaves at that time. The company is cooperating with the national Emergency Management Agency, Lagos State Government, Fire Service and Lagos State Police to speed up rescue efforts. Investigation is already underway to ascertain the identities of those affected as it is not company policy for site workers to take shelter in uncompleted buildings.

Lekki Gardens is a reputable residential propert development company and has successfully completed and delivered over 6,000 units of houses across Lagos, Ogun, Rivers State and the Federal Capital territory, Abuja in the past 4 years and most of them already occupied.

The Management and staff of Lekki Gardens sincerely sympathize with the families of those who lost their lives. The company will do all in its power to ensure that those injured are fully supported", the management stated.