The death toll from the collapsed 21-storey building in Ikoyi last Monday has reportedly risen to 29.
It was gathered that the number of dead bodies exhumed from the rubble has risen to 29, with so many people still trapped, as rescue operation is intensified on the site.
Zainab Oridamola, a female member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), serving with the construction company, Fourscore Homes Limited, is one of the dead.
Oridamola was one of those trapped in the ill-fated building, whose family members and friends were praying earnestly for their safe rescue, but that was not the case as she was among the 22 bodies confirmed dead by rescuers at the time of filing this report.
Her death and two others frittered away any hope of other survivors as rescuers restricted access to the site.
Family members of persons trapped under the collapsed building had besieged the site yesterday, furious that rescuers were slow, as the operation entered the third day.
The protesting residents and family members, who volunteered to do the search themselves were, however, calmed with the arrival of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who got into Lagos on Tuesday from Italy, where he was attending the G-20 summit.
Sanwo-Olu appealed for patience, stressing that the search was not a normal one.
He said: “This is not a normal search and rescue or a typical building collapse. This is a situation, where the whole building came down, there are no pillars in any form holding anything.
“We feel a lot of concern for the families so, there’s a lot of psychosocial therapy, people are upset, angry and uncomfortable but I can assure you that we are doing everything possible. But for the recovered corpses, we are doing a systematic process of identifying the corpse and an autopsy is being conducted and we believe the corpse will be ready in days.”
The governor said so far, out of the nine persons rescued, three have been discharged, while six persons are undergoing treatment at the Lagos Island Hospital.
He stressed that the address of the contractor when visited was merely a residential area and there were alterations on the signpost.
He said that the contractor violated the law guiding construction work as there was no manifest on the site.
Describing the incident as a national loss, he said: “This is an event that could be described as a clear national disaster, this is an event where we can say mistakes were made from all angles and it’s an event that should not be happening in a modern-day city like Lagos.
“It has been a difficult journey for all the rescue workers and we appreciate their works and we will continue to do our best to get to the root of the situation.
“Unfortunately, we did not have the manifest of everybody that was on-site and which is against the law. On a daily basis, there is always a manifest of everybody working in a construction company. It’s also difficult to identify anybody working with the construction company. No one has come forward as the project manager or staff of the developer, and we are also working without the full information of the modus operandi of the company. That is why we don’t know the number we are dealing with or what work they are doing there.
“It’s still completely not clear, but what we know is that we have been able to rescue nine persons, six of them are still in the General Hospital and three have been discharged.
“We have asked Mr. Gbolahan Oki, the general manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) to proceed on an indefinite suspension. Everyone found guilty at the cause of investigation will face the full wrath of the law. For us to get to the root of what has happened, a commission of inquiry that consists of persons outside the government has been established, and they have been given 30 days to tell us what had gone on.
“The members are; President, Nigeria Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Tayo Ayinde, Dr. Akitilo Idris Adeleke, Yinka Ogundairo, Godfrey O. Godfrey and Mrs Bunmi Ibrahim, the secretary of the panel is Mr. Ekundayo Onajobi.
“We have a desk set up where we want family members to submit the names and pictures of their family members. We have designed a form to be filled and created a website, lagosmind.org/help or email: help@lagosmind.org. We are still hopeful because each time they pump oxygen and water into the debris so that if there are survivors, they will still have the opportunity to breathe. We don’t know when this will be completed, but we have enough resources to continue the search and pull out the last person, so we need to keep hope alive.”
