By Christopher Oji and Lukman Olabiyi
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) has affirmed that there were no casualties in the collapsed building at the Banana Island, Ikoyi area of the state.
A statement titled, ‘Situation report on the collapsed building at 1st Avenue, Banana Island, Ikoyi’ on the agency’s Facebook page on Wednesday, partly read: “Upon the arrival of the LASEMA Response Team at the scene of the incident, a six-storey building under construction was found to have collapsed.
“Information gathered revealed that the building collapsed as a result of a truck that ran into the building. Fortunately, no loss of life. However, efforts are ongoing to reconstruct the building to ground zero, to forestall any secondary incident. Recovery operations are ongoing,” the statement read.
It was earlier reported that a seven-storey building under construction collapsed, on Wednesday, on First Avenue in Banana Island estate. No fewer than seven people were rescued from the rubble. It was gathered that construction workers were performing their daily tasks in the building that had been under construction for months when it suddenly caved in around 4.58pm.
It was learnt that while some of the workers at the site escaped unhurt with some sustaining varying degrees of injury, some other workers, who were unlucky, got trapped beneath the rubble of the collapsed structure.
In a bid to rescue the trapped victims, some eyewitnesses, including construction workers at the site of adjoining buildings within the premises, raised the alarm and alerted relevant emergency agencies who mobilised to the scene to commence rescue operations.
Meanwhile, there have been doubts over the state government’s claim that no life was lost in the building collapse, especially with the estate security denying journalists the opportunity to cover the rescue operation. A labourer, Mr. Mathins, who works in the estate, told journalists that, “people died, but the government is being economical with the truth. Some dead bodies were recovered. I don’t understand why they are saying that the rescue operation is over when it is ongoing.”
A fellow, who couldn’t tell his name, but a staff of security department, was prancing about and frantically telling journalists that they won’t enter the estate for security reasons. Journalists were shocked that they were barred from covering a serious incident such as a collapsed building. Another resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “Where else in the entire globe, except in Nigeria, can you find such a scene, where an ordinary person prevents an essential institution like the media from performing a crucial public duty? What’s there to hide in a collapsed building site? Every other essential group has been allowed in because they exercise some level of coercive powers. But how else do you want to seek notice, if not to prevent journalists from doing their job?”