| Again, another building
collapses in Lagos
By Segun Ajiboye, Tony Erhariefe & Ashamu
Adegbola
Sunday,
June 17, 2007
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•scene of the collapses
building | Photo:
Sun News Publishing | |
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Lagos
is fast becoming notorious for incidences of collapsed buildings as yet another
building came down yesterday, sending several persons to hospitals while unconfirmed
number remained unaccounted for.
The building, a five-storey structure
located in the heart of the popular Oke-Aarin market at Number 32, Egertton Street,
reportedly collapsed at about 2pm. According to eyewitnesses, the building was
a bungalow until few years ago when the owner, one Alhaji Sulaimon Balogun, raised
it to a multi-floor abode, containing several stalls and shops on the ground floor,
while the upper floors were residential.
Before the collapse of the house
yesterday, the landlord, according to residents of a neighbouring house, had planned
to raise it by one more floor. “This is the result of greed. The man has
already finished work on the topmost floor, probably in preparation to add another
floor.”
Eyewitnesses told Sunday Sun that the building showed signs
of weakness a long time ago when the plaster started falling off. “For sometime
now, we have noticed that the plaster on the building was falling off. Each time
it happened, they would plaster it again.”
However, the plastering could
not sustain the huge structure forever as it eventually caved in yesterday afternoon.
Immediate rescue efforts were hampered by the location of the building,
which was inaccessible for rescue workers.
While the combined team of rescuers
from the Lagos State Fire Service, LASAMBUS and the Lagos State Emergency Management
Authority (LASEMA) battled to gain access to the building, ‘Area Boys’
held sway working with their bare hands, shovels and diggers to reach trapped
survivors.
Their efforts did not seem to be yielding much result as construction
giant, Julius Berger, was contacted to rush to the rescue with heavy equipment.
Bode
Osanyintolu, General Manager, LASEMA, said the efforts of his men at rescuing
those trapped under the rubble were being hampered by the location of the building.
He said hours after the team arrived the scene, the heavy machines, which they
would use, were yet to gain access.
“You can see that my men who have
been here for hours now cannot do much until we are able to get access for our
machines.”
In the same vein, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State
Ministry of Health, Jide Idris, who directed rescue efforts said the problem of
getting heavy equipment to the scene was the biggest handicap to his men. “We
need to create passage for the machines to gain access to the scene. The moment
we are able to do that, the bulk of the job would have been done.”
Meanwhile,
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), yesterday visited the site
of a collapsed building at 33 Egerton Street near Oke Arin market in central Lagos,
directing the immediate deployment of earth moving machines to rescue people who
might still be trapped under the wreckage.
Fashola who cut short his other
engagements to visit the site said he started making contacts with experts and
organizations with the equipment to assist with rescue operations as soon as report
of the incident reached him. He noted that the narrow streets and general inaccessibility
to the site made rescue operations difficult, insisting, however that no stone
would be left unturned to ensure that help reached those suspected to be trapped
within the shortest time possible.
Governor Fashola who appealed for calm
as he empathized with agitated relatives of the trapped victims also urged youths
who milled round the wreckage to allow rescue workers access to work and increase
the chances of survival for those believed to be trapped under the rubble. He
said medical personnel including doctors, nurses and officials of the Lagos State
Ambulance Services (LASAMBUS), Red Cross and other volunteer groups were already
on site to offer assistance.
The Governor also announced that the government
had already embarked on an enduring solution to the problem of collapsed buildings
through the on-going renewal projects which had already been carried out in the
Central Business District of Ikeja and Central Lagos.
“The urban
renewal programme is ongoing and would necessarily have to continue in other areas
left, to check the incidence of collapsed buildings and general infrastructure
decay,” he said. …Survivors’ close shave with death
Adegbenro (Save
by customer)
Mother of two, Mrs. Adegbenro is a popular trader in the Oke-Aarin
market. For close to 15 years, her cutlery shop in the ill-fated building served
as her second home. Her days are spent attending to customers that come to purchase
her wares.
Yesterday, business was good until about 1pm when a customer who
had just left her shop suddenly returned to warn her of an imminent danger. “The
customer suddenly rushed into my shop. She said the building was about to collapse,
that people were running.”
She had hardly stepped out with her two boys,
Tunde and Vincent, when the building came down with a loud noise. “ I might
have been killed if I had argued with the woman. We had barely ran out of the
building when it came down.” Moshood (Saved by fate)
For 20-year-old
Moshood, fate must have played a prominent role in his escape. Moshood, a printer,
worked in his brother’s printing office located in the building. According
to him, the building collapsed about two minutes after he stepped out to attend
to a customer. “I work with my brother who was out at the time. A customer
came to collect his job. Fortunately for me, the job was in the other office located
in the adjacent street. I just stepped out and walked few metres away when I heard
a loud noise. People started screaming and running, and I too joined and ran towards
the open space.”
Moshood however maintained that many of the tenants
in the building are still trapped under the rubble. “It was not everybody
that was able to escape. The building was a big five-storey and people lived on
the upper floors. They were not able to make it out before it came down.” Owodunni
(Friend’s lover trapped in rubble)
Though Ahmed Owodunni was miles away
from danger when his home came down in rubble, the young man is still sad. Ahmed,
who lived on the first floor of the building with three other friends, told Sunday
Sun that efforts to locate the girlfriend of one of his friends, Ariyo, had not
been successful as press time last night.
Ahmed only moved into the house less
than a year ago. “This afternoon, Ariyo came home with the girl. By that
time, all of us were out. But when the building collapsed, Ariyo said he jumped
out of the window. He sustained some injuries and we have taken him to the hospital.
But we have not been able to locate the girl. It seems she was unable to make
it.” Junaid Akeem
(Saved by hair’s breadth)
Junaid Akeem
sells cutlery in one of the shops located on the ground floor of the collapsed
building. Junaid said he has operated his shop for more than a decade now. “We
have been here for a long time. It was before the building was upgraded to a five-storey.”
He
explained that the people first noticed the sign that trouble was in the air early
in the morning. “This morning, people started noticing that the house, which
was very upright yesterday, had suddenly bent towards one side.”
While
Junaid and his colleagues were busy attending to customers, a neighbour who was
worried with the sudden shift in the building’s position came in to warn
others of an imminent danger. “About of us were in our shop when he came
in and said the building may collapse as it has bent to one side. We were sacred,
so we all came out to see for ourselves what was happening.
“We barely
walked out of the shop when it suddenly came down. There was total darkness in
the entire area and we could not see ourselves. But kept running until we reached
safety.”
However, Junaid and his boys are alive to tell their stories
because the building collapsed backwards. “I must confess to you, our luck
was that the building went down and fell to the sides. If it swerved to the front,
we would have been dead.”
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