Dozens of children were among scores of people feared trapped on Wednesday after a four-storey building collapsed in Nigeria's economic capital Lagos, rescuers told AFP, with at least four dead bodies pulled from the rubble. The children were attending an "illegal school" inside the residential building when the structure collapsed, officials said. "Dozens of children were trapped inside," said Adesina Tiamiyu, head of Lagos state emergency management agency (SEMA), which is supervising the rescue operation.
So far, emergency workers had pulled 40 people alive from the rubble, some of them badly injured, he said. But they had also recovered "more than four dead bodies", Tiamiyu said without giving an exact figure. Police said they believed scores of people were trapped under the rubble of the building which collapsed mid-morning in an area near Itafaji market on Lagos Island. "We are getting additional cranes to be able to go deeper than where we are now to rescue more lives," said Lagos state governor Akinwunmi Ambode in a statement.
And he promised a full investigation, pledging there would be "punishment" for anyone found responsible for the building's collapse. In chaotic scenes, panicked parents, local residents and shocked onlookers rushed to the area as police, firemen and medics staged a massive rescue operation. It was not immediately clear how many people were inside when the building foundered. Rescuers stressed there were no exact figures for the dead or injured, but one health official said 20 people had been taken to hospital. "We are still trying to find out how many are trapped inside," said police officer Seun Ariwyo, who said there were probably scores. A young man helping rescue efforts who gave his name only as Derin said "at least 10 children" were trapped inside but "thought to be alive". An AFP reporter at the scene saw at least eight people pulled from the wreckage, including a small boy with blood on his face.
Comments
Comments are closed.