LASEMA says collapsed building in Lekki had been sealed since February 2021

Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) says the building that collapsed in Lekki had been sealed by the state government since February 2021. 

The seven-story building located at Oba Idowu Oniru Street, Lekki came down in the early hours of Sunday, September 4, 2022. 

Six people are said to be trapped under the building but so far, two dead bodies have been recovered from the debris of the seven-story building.

Speaking to Pulse about the incident, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) Secretary, Dr Oluwafemi Damilola Oke said the property had been sealed by the state government since February 2021.

Oke said the agency immediately moved to the scene of the incident following an emergency call it received at 3.15 am. 

According to him, the two bodies recovered from the rubbles have been deposited at a mortuary in the state. 

“We received an emergency call at 3.15 am. We activated our emergency response plan and moved to the scene. On getting to the scene, we discovered that a seven-story building had collapsed, but the most interesting thing is that the place had been sealed by a relevant government agency. It was sealed on the 18th, of February 2021”, he said. 

“However, we gathered another information that six people were trapped inside and they told us that the people that were trapped were in the outer quadra. So, we divided the collapsed building into outer, middle, and inner quadra. 

“At the outer quadra where we were told people were trapped, we started using specific heavy-duty equipment that we call a hammer. After using another equipment to detect where people are trapped, we did not detect anything. So, we moved to the outer where we were told there was nobody in and we used an excavator to check the inner and the middle and we were able to recover two bodies, The bodies that were recovered have been deposited in the mortuary.”

Rescue operations are still ongoing at the site of the collapse as emergency responders continue to search for the remaining victims the building collapsed on.