Rescue efforts on to safe Lagos sewer worker trapped in tunnel

There have been renewed efforts to get a yet-to-be identified sewer worker with the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority trapped in an underground drainage at the Onipanu area of the state.

Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, the permanent secretary of Lagos Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), on Monday said the adult male sewer worker was caught between the tunnel while dislodging and evacuating debris from a tunnel.

Oke-Osanyintolu said the agency received a distress call to which LASEMA officers at the Onipanu base quickly responded to.

He added that officers of the Lagos Fire and Rescue Service, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), and LAMATA, were also deployed to the scene.

The permanent secretary said the agency provided sophisticated equipment to save the worker’s life, adding that the inflow of water was also diverted to reduce the underground water volume.

“Following an SOS message on the distress situation of a Drainage Worker, LASEMA activated the State’s Emergency Response Plans from its Onipanu Base,”Oke-Osanyintolu said.

“Upon the arrival of the emergency responders at the incident scene, investigations revealed that an adult male de-silting drainages along that axis in an attempt to clear a blocked portion accessed the underground tunnel and got trapped,” he noted.

“In conducting the Search and Rescue Operation, the LASEMA Response Team and all Emergency Responders are working together assiduously to rescue the trapped victim from inside the underground drainage which commenced at 1625hrs,” he said.

While providing an update on the incident on Tuesday, Nosa Okunbor, LASEMA head of public affairs unit, said all efforts to rescue the drain duck worker have not yielded positive results.

“The rescue operation was suspended at 09:36hrs yesterday to resume today since all efforts to rescue him proved abortive,” he said.

“Rescue operations still ongoing,” Okunbor added.