Rescuers call off search in Lagos building collapse
Print Edition
Emergency services yesterday said they had called off the search for survivors of a building collapse that killed nine in Nigeria鈥檚 biggest city, Lagos, as anger mounted over dilapidated properties and unscrupulous owners.
The building, which housed a primary school and nursery, crashed down without warning in the teeming Lagos Island area at mid-morning on Wednesday.
Firefighters and other emergency services worked through the night to find anyone still trapped. One body was recovered in the early hours, the National Emergency Management Agency said.
鈥淲e have gotten to ground zero,鈥 added Kehinde Adebayo, spokesman for the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency.
鈥淭he debris has been cleared. All those trapped have been evacuated and the rescue operation has ended,鈥 he said, adding final casualty figures were still being compiled and would be announced later.
NEMA has said 37 people were rescued alive.
Lagos State governor Akinwunmi Ambode said the building had been earmarked for demolition and a nursery and primary school were being run illegally on one of its floors.
School bags, toys and clothes were among the piles of rubble as a bulldozer tried to clear a path through wreckage.
Adeniyi Afolabi, who lives nearby, gave the name of the school as the Ohen Nursery and Primary, and said there were 144 pupils in attendance on Wednesday.
Another local, Zion Munachi, also confirmed the name and the number of pupils. But both said not all children were at the school because of sports activities.
Chaotic scenes of heavy lifting equipment and ambulances trying to pick their way through huge crowds and narrow streets gave way to anger yesterday, as residents demanded answers.
Lagos Island is the historic heart of the metropolis.
An estimated 20 million people live there and the island is also home to the city鈥檚 central business district.
Building collapses are tragically common in the city and elsewhere in Nigeria, where building regulations are routinely flouted.
In September 2014, 116 people died 鈥 84 of them South Africans 鈥 when a six-story guesthouse collapsed at the Lagos church complex of celebrity televangelist TB Joshua.
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