Collapsed building in Lagos: at least 4 dead and dozens of workers still stuck

AFP, published on Tuesday 02 November 2021 at 08h00

A skyscraper under construction collapsed Monday in Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria, killing at least four and injuring several, but the toll could rise, dozens of workers still trapped under the rubble.

This 21-story building located on one of Lagos’ most chic avenues, in the Ikoyi district, collapsed just before 3:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. GMT) as dozens of workers were on the site.

“There are four dead so far and four people left alive,” Ibrahim Farinloyer, of the National Emergency Management Agency (Nema), told AFP, who said the operation is still ongoing.

Around the mountain of rubble more than ten meters high, workers, their skin covered with dust, wandered in fright, their eyes haggard.

At least five of them told AFP that more than 40 people were working in the building when it collapsed.

“I was working downstairs, that’s why I saved my life,” said Taiwo Sule, 21, her voice still shaking.

“I climbed on the pile of rubble and I saw five dead bodies, we tried to carry them, but we were made to come down. Look at my hands, they are full of blood”, launches the young man in anger, his reddened palms turned to the sky.

Peter Ajagbe, a 26-year-old worker, his body gray with dust, claims to have “seen at least ten bodies” on the mountain of rubble. “One of my colleagues is dead. Those I was having lunch with again this morning are dead,” he said in despair.

– “Where are the help? –

A little further on, a crowd of several hundred people gathered around the construction site. Some launching to the few authorities present on the spot: “But where is the help? Why is it taking so long?”.

At least two hours after the collapse, a huge traffic jam prevented the emergency services and the teams responsible for clearing the rubble from accessing the site.

Only a few ambulances were visible, where two injured were receiving first aid, AFP journalists noted.

Around 5:00 p.m. local time, a small excavator had finally reached the site and was struggling to remove the first rubble. Dozens of soldiers had been deployed to calm and keep the crowd away for security reasons.

Around the mountain of rubble, two buildings under construction, similar to the one that collapsed, still stand.

On site, the police said they did not yet know the cause of the collapse.

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced the opening of an investigation and called for calm late Monday, as rescue operations continued after dark.

Emergency services are “at the site, and fighting to save the lives of those under the rubble,” Gbenga Omotoso, spokesman for the governor, said in a statement.

Building collapses are a frequent tragedy in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, where millions of people live in dilapidated buildings and construction laws are routinely flouted.

A few tens of meters from the collapsed building, several workers continued to work, as if nothing had happened, on neighboring construction sites, where luxury buildings will soon emerge from the ground. All on simple bamboo scaffolding, without any protective equipment.

Some workers, in flip-flops, seem barely out of adolescence.