Pandemonium broke out yesterday
when a three-story building of over 20 years caved in leaving many dead and
several injured in the heart of Lagos.
The busy and often crowded Ita Faji Street of Lagos
Island were disrupted by tragedy on Wednesday morning when a three-storey
building housing a school collapsed, trapping more than 100 persons, including
pupils.
The building,
located on the cramped street characterized by old buildings, went down around
9.45am when pupils of the school, which occupied the second
floor were getting into the day’s activities proper and scores of
residents were home.
Thousands of
residents and many emergency workers descended on the scene and rescued many
upon arrival, but some remain trapped and witnesses have given early death toll
figures at eight to nine.
As of
Wednesday evening, more than 24 victims, mostly children, had been rescued.
The building, located at the end of the street
is over 20 years old and among its occupants is the nursery and primary school,
which children within the neighborhood attend.
According to
a resident in the neighborhood, the house was a death trap, as many people who
had lived there, never stayed for long, after several complaints about its
structural integrity.
“A few days
ago, I went to deliver a message for a brother who runs a betting shop a few
streets away. As I climbed the staircase, my heart was skipping because it felt
like the building was falling apart. It has a lot of elderly people, asides the
school on the second floor,” the resident who gave her name as Folake, said,
bursting into tears.
Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State
Ministry of health, Titilayo Goncalves, assured the parents and well-wishers
that the hospitals are doing everything possible to save the lives of those
rescued.
She added
that the Island General Hospital served as a receiving center and when the
patient had been stabilized, they would be moved to other tertiary
institutions.
“It is a
tragic day for us, but we are on top of the situation. Since it started, we
have been evacuating patients, emergency care has been given to them all.”
“We have had
a whole lot of people coming here, everybody is stable, we try to make them
stable and inform tertiary hospitals like LASUTH, Onikan Health Centre, and
Gbagada General Hospital that handle critical care on standby, we have
transferred patients there already.”
On the number
of casualties, Titilayo said: “Rescue operations are still ongoing, and we
cannot give a confirmation on the number of casualties. We have a list of all
the patients brought in here, so I cannot verify those taken to other
hospitals.”
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