Cape Town - At least eight people were killed when a three-storey building collapsed in Nigeria’s Lagos state, an emergency management official said on Monday, local Nigerian media reported.
8 dead in Lagos building collapse https://t.co/jKmUDlg0eK #Nigeria #NigeriaNews pic.twitter.com/F4mPcjPetc
Ibrahim Farinloye, co-ordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency, told Xinhua news agency that the building, in the Onyigbo area, collapsed around 11pm on Sunday night, and rescuers have so far found eight bodies, in the Ebute-Metta area of the sprawling city of more than 20 million people, Emergency Management Agency told AFP.
At least 23 people were rescued alive and are being treated in hospital, he said, citing the Xinhua report.
Rescue operations are ongoing to look for more people who might still be trapped under the rubble, Farinloye said.
Between 1974 and 2019, over 221 buildings collapsed across various Nigerian cities and more than half of the collapses occurred in the economic hub of Lagos, according to Brookings Global.
Nigeria: eight dead in the collapse of a three-storey building #AkhbarAlYawm #أخبار_اليوم https://t.co/VA4yVhFAJ3
— Akhbar Al Yawm (@akhbaralyawm) May 2, 2022
Rescue operations are ongoing to look for more people who might still be trapped under the rubble, Farinloye said.
An investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the collapse, he said, quoting reports.
In November 2021, at least 45 people were killed after a 21-storey building collapsed in Lagos. The victims included the building’s owner.
Local experts blame the many cases of building collapses in Nigeria on ageing structures, non-compliance with building planning and regulations, and the use of substandard materials during construction.