Following a collapsed school building in Lagos where about 20 people were died on Wednesday, another building has collapsed in Ibadan on Friday.
The three-storey building under construction collapsed at Shogoye Bus Stop area, Bode community.
The building came down around 6pm while bricklayers and other artisans on site were rounding off for the day’s work.
Nobody was confirmed dead as at press time but rescue efforts were ongoing. Men of the fire service and volunteers were able to pull four people out of the rubble.
Residents of the area said some of trapped victims made telephone distress calls but when calls were made to one of the numbers few minutes after, there was no response.
The incident threw the area into panic and confusion, as a crowd created a traffic gridlock that cut off the Molete end of the road from the Idi Arere and Oja ‘ba end.
Among those rescued are 42-year-old Olalekan Dauda, Tunde, Toheeb Gbadamosi and Rilwan Oladepo. Dauda said he was working with other artisans on the third floor when the building collapsed. He said he just heard a sudden blast and later found that he and others in the building were trapped in the rubble.
Gbadamosi, 19, said: “Today is my first time of working at this place. I just came around in order to raise some money for my upkeep because things were difficult. I thank God that I came out of the rubble alive”.
One of the fire fighters who spoke in confidence, said: “We responded promptly to the emergency as we got to the scene about 35 minutes after the alert.
“We are trying our best to rescue the victims but the challenge we are facing is getting the right equipment to lift the concrete wreckage. Another challenge is the time of the day; it will soon get dark but that will not deter us from doing our best.”
•Coined from Newspeak
