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BUILDING COLLAPSE: HOW TWO MALIANS WERE CRUSHED TO DEATH IN LAGOS

Two Malians died in the collapsed building in Lagos on Saturday, Chairman of Apapa-Iganmu Local Council Development Area (LCDA) Alhaja Funmilayo Akande-Mohammed has stated.

A three-storey building collapsed on 9, Amosun Street, Ijora-Badia area of Lagos.

Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) General Manager Adesina Tiamiyu said the building was an abandoned one and that residents had already vacated the apartment.

He said three illegal occupants were in the building when it partially collapsed from the back.

Akande-Mohammed confirmed to The Nation yesterday that occupants of the building had vacated the place long before the incident occurred.

Those who died in the building, she said, were using it as a makeshift shop for dry cleaning.

“The residents have vacated the place since the state government marked it inhabitable. But the Malians are using it for their dry cleaning business. This information got to us after the collapsed. If we had such information prior to that unfortunate incident, we would have told them to vacate the place. The lives of people living in our area are germane to us. We prefer they live, do business and be prosperous than die in an unfortunate incident,” she said.

She said two persons were injured in the incident.

The council chairman urged residents of the area to report defective buildings to the Lagos State Government.

This, she said, will make the state take necessary action on it.

“We cannot afford to be recording avoidable deaths through building collapse. We all need to be our brother’s keeper by reporting dilapidated structures to the state government. People should also stay away from such buildings. They should be mindful of their lives. It is unhealthy and dangerous to live in such buildings,” she said.

The Nation learnt that the Lagos State government deployed heavy-duty equipment and brought down the structure to avoid the secondary incident and ensure no other person got trapped under the rubbles.

Agencies on the ground for rescue operations included the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Lagos State Fire Service, the police, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and the Lagos State Neighbourhood and Safety Corps.

 

 

@ The Nation

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