Owner of Lagos collapsed building, 4 Engineers, about 30 others still trapped — Eyewitnesses

Managing Director, Fourscore Heights Limited, Mr Femi Osibona, who owned the 21-storey building that collapsed on Gerard Road in the Ikoyi area of Lagos on Monday, four engineers, some of his clients and over 30 others, are still trapped in the rubble, according to an eyewitnesses.

The building crumbled around 2pm when workers were on the site.

One of the workers who survived the incident, Gabriel Bassey, told a PUNCH correspondent that about 50 persons were still trapped in the rubble.

He was quoted as saying: “This project, 360 Degree, was built by Fourscore Homes Limited. I was trying to plug my phone and not up to five seconds that I left the spot, I saw the building coming down and I ran to safety. We have a lot of people trapped in the rubble, who we need to bring out.

“When the incident happened, we brought out six dead bodies and we still have like 30 Togolese and Nigerian bricklayers and four engineers and other workers. My boss, Mr Femi, is still trapped in the building. He was on the 18th floor with some of his clients, who wanted to buy the building, when the incident happened.”

Another eyewitness, a resident by name Morris Ashiobi, said the building did not show any sign before it caved in.

He said: “When the incident happened, I was the first person to climb the building to the last floor and I saw corpses. I started calling people to come and rescue others. We recovered six dead bodies, rescued one, while the rest are still under the rubble.

“The building didn’t give any sign, it just came down. We were still working on it. It took an hour before the emergency agencies came and we had brought out the dead bodies and rescued one person before they came. If I’m not mistaken, about 40 persons were on site, because we were working at the time. Some people came from Abuja today (Monday) to work. I have many friends still trapped in the building.

“When the police came, they chased us out and didn’t allow us to rescue anyone again; if they had allowed us, we would still have rescued more people.”

However, the number of those trapped as at this afternoon (Tuesday, November 2, 2021) has dropped to below 40 going by an update given by the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Obafemi Hamzat.

He told newsmen that two more survivors have been rescued while the remains of 10 people have recovered from the rubble of the collapsed building.

According to Hamzat, two survivors who were rescued and currently being treated at a hospital gave conflicting figures concerning the people who were inside the building before the collapse.