One person has been confirmed dead, while 21 others were rescued after a two-storey building collapsed on Monday morning in the Oyingbo area of Lagos State.
The Director of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye, confirmed the development in a situation report. She said the agency received a distress call in the early hours of the day before mobilising its rescue team to the site located at 54 Cole Street, Cemetery Bus Stop, Oyingbo.
Adeseye explained that the building had earlier been marked “distressed” before it collapsed on the occupants.
According to her, 15 of the rescued victims — seven female adults, seven male adults, and four children — sustained varying degrees of injury and were taken to the Federal Medical Centre, Ebute Meta, and the General Hospital, Odan, Lagos Island.
She added that rescue operations, being coordinated by the Sari Iganmu Fire Station of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, were ongoing at the scene to ensure that no one was left trapped.
“It is an ongoing rescue involving an existing two-storey building which has reportedly been marked distressed before collapsing on the occupants,” Adeseye stated.
Building collapses remain a recurring problem in Nigeria, especially during the rainy season.
In September, six people were rescued after a two-storey building collapsed on Modupeola Street, Mangoro, Alimosho area of Lagos. On September 13, another incident in the Alagomeji area of Lagos claimed one life when a three-storey structure caved in.
Similar tragedies have also been recorded in other states. In Jigawa, one person died and seven others were injured following a building collapse in Kabak village, Kirikasamma Local Government Area. In July, two people were killed after an uncompleted three-storey building collapsed in Sabon Gari, Kano State, following heavy rainfall.
In June, the Oyo State Government sealed off a building belonging to a popular restaurant in the Dugbe area of Ibadan after it collapsed during a rainstorm that affected parts of the city.