TheCable

One body has been recovered from the rubble of the collapsed building at 1st Avenue, Banana Island, Ikoyi area of Lagos.

The body was recovered following the search and recovery efforts of the workers of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA).

TheCable had reported that the building, which was under construction, collapsed on Wednesday evening, with some workers trapped under the rubble.

In a statement on Friday, Gbenga Omotoso, commissioner for information and strategy, said the excavation of the collapsed building was still ongoing.

The commissioner said the identity of the body recovered was yet to be known, adding that everyone in the building had been accounted for.

“The excavation of the site, using the architectural designs, continues. The site has been divided into quadrants for a painstaking search and rescue operation. Quadrants 2 and 3 have been leveled to ground zero, with the search operation completed. Quadrant 4 is ongoing,” he said.

“Twenty-five people were rescued from the site when the building went down on Wednesday. They are all doing fine.

“When a roll call was done by the site supervisors, everyone was accounted for. Nobody could ascertain whether the victim whose body was found this morning was on the site – as of the time the roll call was taken.”

TheCable had reported that the building, which was under construction, collapsed on Wednesday evening, with some workers trapped under the rubble.

Following the incident, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said no death was recorded, but workers were trapped in the building and a response team had been mobilised for search and rescue operations.

Rotimi Edu, the president of Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) described the incident as a case of negligence by the contractors who undertook the project.