Survivors of the distressed three-storey building, which collapsed in the Ebute Metta area of Lagos State, has narrated how they were able to escape from the rumbles after the building went down.
WITHIN NIGERIA had reported that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said that the collapsed three-storey building claimed the lives of 10 tenants, including a member of the National Youth Service Corps, identified only as Oluwakemi.
Speaking with PUNCH, 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.
“Suddenly, some guys came from nowhere and started breaking the burglary-proof bars and we all came out through the window. My neighbour, Alfa, and his family used a ladder to climb down into the compound because the rubble also blocked the entrance to his flat.”
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.”
The aforementioned publication reported that 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.”
Addressing journalists at the scene of the incident, the Coordinator, NEMA, Ibrahim Farinloye, said the 10 victims who lost their lives to the incident consisted of four females and six males.
He said, “The incident was said to have started around 9.30pm and since that time, the first responders, who were the community members, came in and they really assisted before the arrival of statutory agencies.
“When we got there, we had about 20 people rescued. So far, we have about 24 people rescued alive and 10 recovered dead.
“The body of an NYSC lady, Oluwakemi, was discovered and removed. Her father identified her; she was found with her phone in her hand. Operation is still ongoing; we are not sure if we will still see more until we get to ground zero.
“From indications and comments, the building has been distressed for a long time and we learnt that they (tenants) were given notices to move out, but some of them moved while others refused to move.”