Two children (ages not ascertained) were on Wednesday trapped and killed when a storey-building collapsed in the Ogudu area of Lagos State.
The building located at 46 Gafari Balogun Street, Ogudu was said to have collapsed at about 12:35 pm as a result of a mudslide which occurred at the rear of the building, following a heavy rainfall.
Olufemi Oke-Osayintolu, the director-general of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), who confirmed the incident, said the response team from the agency received a distress call about the collapsed building at 12:40 pm following they mobilised to the location.
“On arrival at the scene by the agency responders, it was observed that a building collapsed as a result of a mudslide at the rear of the building caused by heavy rainfall.
The agents were informed that two children, one male and one female, were trapped and immediately commenced a search and rescue operation. Unfortunately, they were found dead and their remains transported to the mortuary,” said Oke-Osayintolu.
He explained that an integrity test would be carried out on the remainder of the building which has now been cordoned off.
Building collapse is a recurring decimal in Nigeria’s commercial city of Lagos, which population is estimated at about 21 million people. As a result, several lives and properties worth billions have continued to be destroyed.
Most of the incidents have been linked to the old age of the building, compromise by developers, poor quality of materials, non-involvement of professionals in the construction, corruption on part of government officials, and the regulatory agencies among others.
