News

‘Collapsed building had approval for 21 floors, but…’ — Lagos Dep Governor Hamzat

0

'Collapsed building had approval for 21 floors, but…' — Lagos Dep Governor Hamzat

The Lagos deputy governor, Femi Hamzat, has said that the building that collapsed in Ikoyi, Lagos, had approval for 21 floors and not 15, but that the construction compromised integrity.

He added that 10 casualties have been confirmed, while nine persons have been rescued from the rubbles.

Hamzat made the revelation while addressing journalists at the scene of the incident, adding that “it’s a search and rescue operation.”

According to him, “two people were rescue alive this morning (Tuesday) while some confirmed dead.

“The total number of people rescued so far is nine (currently undergoing treatment at a nearby clinic) while we have record of 10 casualties.

“Our focus is to see how we can rescue more people in the the building.

“We heard a voice of a lady trapped in the building. So, we’re not sure of the number of persons trapped.

“It’s a search and rescue operation and we hope to save more lives,” he said.

On the punitive measures put in place by the government to curtail another incident of such in future, the deputy governor said structural measures are in place to inspect the buildings within and around the state regularly.

On the building approval plan, the deputy governor said, “The approval for the building, this particular one that collapsed, was approved for 21 floors, not 15.”

In a related development, one of the construction workers at the building that went down, Enahoro Tony, said he alongside others were harassed by security operatives while rescuing their colleagues from the debris.

On being allegedly harassed by the security operatives, the construction worker said: “While we were trying to rescue our colleagues trapped in the collapsed building, some soldiers just started harassing us, telling us to leave the premises.

“Meanwhile, there were no Lagos Emergency Unit team on ground to handle the situation.

“This is where we work daily. We would have rescued more people from the building if they (security operatives) had allowed us do the work.

“They just came and disperse everyone just in the name of doing their job.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Uchechi Ojo
Uchechi Ojo, is a Lagos-born and based writer, newscaster and voice-over artist. A versatile and committed journalist with the yearning to make a difference in the industry. She writes balanced, informative and interesting stories. Uchechi has the ability to interact and listen with rapt attention, excellent time management and great communication skills while paying attention to detail. She is very approachable and a good team player. Instagram | LinkedIn
Mike Ojo

Tottenham appoint Antonio Conte as new manager

Previous article

UPDATE: Death toll rises to 15 in Ikoyi building collapse

Next article

You may also like

Comments

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

More in News