Written by: Mohammed Omran
In a race against time to rescue those trapped, ordinary moments inside a shopping complex in Lagos State, Nigeria, turned into a tragic disaster after the three-story building suddenly collapsed, leaving eight dead, including an infant girl. Rescue teams managed to pull 26 people out alive, while search operations are still ongoing amid fears that there are other victims under the rubble.
The Lagos tragedy worsens: dead and survivors trapped under the rubble of a collapsed commercial building.
Search and rescue operations continued at the site of the collapse of the three-story shopping complex in the Alakia area of Lagos State, after authorities announced that the death toll had risen to eight, including an infant girl, while 26 people were rescued from under the rubble.
Eight bodies, including a baby girl, were recovered and 26 people were rescued.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) explained that the building collapsed at approximately 11:37 a.m. on Old Ojo Road, near the Alakia bus station on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, prompting a large-scale rescue operation involving several government agencies.
The agency's permanent secretary, Dr. Olufemi Aoki-Osanyintolo, said that by 4:20 pm, emergency teams had managed to rescue 26 people alive and had recovered eight bodies, including that of an infant girl, stressing that search operations were continuing in case there were other people under the rubble.
He added that the agency activated its emergency response plan immediately upon receiving the reports, with rescue teams working systematically to search for and extract those trapped, with the participation of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, the Fire and Rescue Service, and the China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC).
He noted that initial reports indicate that a number of shop owners and residents of the building were inside at the moment of the collapse, which increases the likelihood that there are missing persons under the rubble.
To support the rescue operations, the authorities deployed heavy equipment, including excavators, to remove the rubble. They also appealed to citizens to stay away from the accident site and not to gather, in order to facilitate the arrival of emergency teams and enable them to perform their duties without hindrance.
Several agencies participated in the rescue operations, including the Lagos Emergency Management Agency, the Fire and Rescue Service, the Federal Fire Service, the Nigerian Police, the Nigerian Navy, the Community Safety Corps, and the Nigerian Red Cross Society, while authorities are still investigating the causes of the building collapse.
