The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) has confirmed that the death toll of the Lekki Gardens collapse in Lagos has been confirmed at ten and ten others were pulled from the rubble, injured but alive.
Lekki Gardens, a five storey building, was located at the end of Kushenla road in the Ikate Elegushi area of Lekki in Lagos.
LASEMA General Manager, Mr Michael Akindele, said his agency confirmed that horrific death toll not long after the building collapsed.
A survivor is pulled from he destroyed building
“We received calls informing us of the collapse at about 04:40 this morning on our 767 and 112 emergency lines,” Akindele said.
“Immediately, LASEMA and other responders including the Lagos state fire service, Lagos state ambulance service, the Red Cross, National Emergency Agency, RRS, Nigeria Police, FRSC, NSCDC, and DSS, mobilized and quickly commenced a search and rescue operation.
“As I speak to you now, ten men have been recovered and confirmed dead, ten were rescued alive, including the male you witnessed being brought out,” he said.
The construction site before the apparently shoddily built buildings were thrown up
“Their remains are with the Lagos state environment health monitoring Unit and will be moved to the mainland hospital morgue.
“We are working assiduously to get to ground zero to ensure there are no body, dead or alive, trapped under the debris,” Akindele added.
When asked whether more people could remain trapped under the building, Akindele said that as he did not know many where in the building when it collapsed, he could not answer.
Local residents have long complained that the building was unsafe
Earlier, local residents who trooped to the scene said the disaster had long been expected as the developer, Lekki Gardens, allegedly built ongoing and completed houses in the area in what they described as a speedy manner.
One of the workers on the site, bricklayer Victor Suru, told the Daily Post that his friend was killed during the construction process.
“They owe us for months, the engineer doesn’t give us complete money. Now they are killing us. I came from Cotonou to make a living, but look at what has happened. My friend is gone,” he lamented.
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