News

Lagos Building Collapse: 10 Bodies Recovered, 24 Rescued Alive

Published

3 years ago

May 3, 2022

Eric

A distressed three-storey building, which collapsed in the Ebute Metta area of Lagos State, has claimed the lives of 10 tenants, including a member of the National Youth Service Corps, identified only as Oluwakemi.

No fewer than 24 occupants were also injured in the tragic incident, which happened on Sunday.

While some of the injured victims were treated on the spot and discharged, others who sustained severe injuries, after being stabilised by emergency responders at the incident scene, were rushed to a general hospital for further treatment.

PUNCH Metro gathered that occupants of the three-storey building were in their various apartments when it caved in around 9.30pm.

While some occupants were lucky enough to navigate their way out of the collapsed structure, others were trapped beneath the rubble.

Before the arrival of emergency responders, some members of the community searched the rubble and rescued the trapped victims.

One of the survivors, Isaac Irhrhi, who escaped death by a whisker, said he came out with members of his family.

He said, “I am speechless; I give glory to God for being alive. Friends, children, mothers have died, but my family and I came out alive. When the building collapsed, it sounded like thunder as everything went down.

“My flat is on the last floor, so I was able to break the ceiling to create a way to see outside. My wife, child and neighbours were calling me, so I directed them to where I was and started pulling them out. Aside from my wife and child, I was able to pull two neighbours out of the rubble.”

A mother of two, Kehinde Enifeni, a tenant in a house beside the collapsed building, said the structure fell and blocked the entrance to her flat, adding that she and her children escaped by breaking the window.

She said, “I was shocked when I heard the noise, but as I attempted opening the door, I couldn’t. I broke our fence and the structure fell on our compound and blocked our entrance, including the window of my parlour.

“I began crying; my husband started shouting my name and saying I should rush into the room. I quickly rushed there, got a knife, cut the net of the window in the room, but the window had burglary-proof bars.

Another resident, Lanre Shobaloju, said the tragedy occurred due to government negligence, lamenting that the building had been in a bad condition for years.

He said, “The government has been sealing and unsealing the place for more than four times. The last result, which is the collapse, is what they wanted and the building has killed people, including youths.

“One of my agents, Toheeb, lost his life. A young boy, Chinonso, also lost his life; Khalid, who was aspiring to go to university, also lost his life. LASBCA was here to seal the place and it is surprising that the agency still allowed people to reside in the building.

“There is a chance that the agency’s officials were bribed. The tragedy should have been averted if the tenants had been evacuated as I have been complaining that all the pillars and decking of the building had become weak.

“The house was built by a developer about 22 years ago and from what we gathered, the developer would have handed over the building to its owners on May 31 until it collapsed yesterday.”

Emergency responders, including the National Emergency Management Agency, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Lagos State Fire and Rescue Services, Lagos State Building Control Agency, police, and Red Cross were sighted at the scene of the incident on Monday.

Our correspondent observed as two excavators driven by emergency officials made attempts to locate other trapped victims.

As the excavators dug deeper and pierced through concrete and iron rods, the lifeless bodies of 10 occupants, including children, were recovered and placed in body bags.

A crowd of onlookers and sympathisers were seen crying profusely as emergency officials carried the corpses in body bags into vehicles for onward transfer to a mortuary.

A trader in one of the shops in the affected building, Francis Egbuonu, while recounting his losses, said valuables amounting to N10m were lost to the incident.

He said, “I took delivery of new goods on Saturday and deposited them there to take to another location on Monday, but the building collapsed on Sunday and destroyed most of my goods valued at about N10m.”

The Punch

News

242 Passengers, Crew Feared Killed As Air India Enroute London Crashes

Published

1 day ago

June 12, 2025

Eric

An Air India plane flying to London’s Gatwick Airport crashed in Ahmedabad in western India shortly after take-off on Thursday, the carrier said on Thursday.

A total of 242 passengers were on board the flight, Reuters has reported. All flights out of Ahmedabad have been temporarily suspended, the news agency said.

Citing local police, the Financial Times said the plane crashed “within 10 minutes” of take-off from the airport in Ahmedabad.

Flight tracking website Flightradar24 said in a post on social media that it was following reports of a crash involving Air India flight AI171.

The plane was a Boeing (NYSE:BA) 787-8 Dreamliner, Flightradar24 noted, adding that the first flight of the aircraft was in December 2013 and it was delivered to Air India in January 2014. Shares in Boeing were down by more than 6% in pre-market U.S. trading.

“Initial ADS-B data from flight #AI171 shows that the aircraft reached a maximum barometric altitude of 625 feet (airport altitude is about 200 feet) and then it started to descend with an vertical speed of -475 feet per minute,” Flightradar24 said in a post on X.

The signal from the aircraft was lost at 10:08 local time, less than a minute after take-off, Flightradar24 said.

News

Tinubu’s Loyalist Who Turned Against Him, Jesutega Onokpasa Reported Dead

Published

3 days ago

June 10, 2025

Eric

A prominent member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and staunch supporter of President Bola Tinubu during the 2023 presidential election, Jesutega Onokpasa, has been confirmed dead.

According to TJ News Nigeria, the outspoken APC chieftain, who was also a lawyer and renowned political commentator, died just days after making headlines for vowing to mobilise against President Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.

The exact cause of Jesutega Onokpasa’s death has not been officially disclosed. Family members and party associates have yet to release an official statement regarding burial arrangements.

Multiple sources from social media have however confirmed the sad incident. The Boss has not independently confirmed the story.

News

Eight Staff of FMC Abuja to Face Probe over Negligence

Published

3 days ago

June 10, 2025

Eric

The Federal Medical Centre, Abuja, on Monday, said eight of its staff members, including four doctors, two nurses, and two attendants, are under investigation for alleged negligence at the hospital.

The hospital, which disclosed this at a press briefing, noted that any staff member found guilty of dereliction of duty would be held accountable.

The Head of Clinical Services at the hospital, Dr. Bioku Muftau, added that the accident victims allegedly abandoned by personnel in a trending video on social media have since been treated and discharged.

Our correspondent had on Sunday reported that the Federal Government launched an investigation into a viral video showing alleged neglect of accident victims at the Emergency Unit of the hospital.

The video, which circulated widely on social media, showed victims of a road accident reportedly left unattended by hospital staff after being brought in by a good Samaritan.

The good Samaritan, who recorded the footage, claimed he found the victims on the road and transported them to the hospital for urgent care.

He alleged that hospital staff refused to provide immediate assistance, with one citing a lack of gloves.

Muftau, however, said the patient with head injury in the video that attracted public outrage has been treated, stabilised, and discharged on the same day he was brought into the facility.

He said the findings of the investigation ordered by the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Iziaq Salako, would be made public upon conclusion.

“All the staff who are there on that particular day are going to be investigated. They are up to eight -Nurses, attendants, doctors, all of them will be investigated; for now, they are four doctors, two nurses, two health assistants,” he emphasised.

Muftau also denied reports that the hospital was overwhelmed by the number of patients at the time of the incident, asserting that the facility is adequately staffed to manage patient care

“In terms of being overwhelmed, this hospital is blessed with a lot of staff. As I speak with you, we have over 100 consultants in various specialities. In neurosurgery alone, the sole speciality of surgery, we have three,” he claimed.