Tragedy struck on Thursday morning when a yet-to-be-identified woman said to be 80 years old died as the staircase of a storey building caved in in the Oyingbo area of Lagos.
The Lagos State Building Control Agency while condoling with the victims of the collapsed building blamed the non-compliance on the vacation notice on the part of occupants of the building.
PUNCH Metro reports that emergency responders raced to the scene for a rescue mission following the incident.
A source in the area said the building was an old building and needed to be vacated for repairs.
“It was really bound to happen. The building is old. The occupants needed to vacate the building to allow renovation. Maybe, this may not have happened,” the source said.
“It was unfortunate. Everyone was scared when the incident happened. We were running helter-skelter hoping that more people were not affected,” the eyewitness added.
The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Emergency Management Authority, Dr Femi Oke-Osanyitolu, who confirmed the casualty, said there was no record of any further injury.
According to Oke-Osanyitolu, the agency received distress calls around 8:30 am and the rescue team arrived around 8:42 am.
“The agency responded to distress calls concerning the above and upon arrival, discovered a storey building in a state of partial collapse.
“Further information gathered at the incident scene revealed that an internal suspended beam in a room collapsed at about 7:45 am due to ageing and lack of maintenance of the structure.
“Unfortunately, an old woman died from the impact of the partial collapse,” LASEMA said in a statement.
In what was another case of several building collapses in the state in recent times, LASBCA noted that its officials had visited the said building about four months ago, and asked the occupants to vacate the place.
“Our men were there. During our inspection of the building, there were signs of distress, it was captured in our compendium and we sealed the place. That was about four months ago, and we asked them to vacate the place. It’s very unfortunate that the staircase caved in today,” the LASBCA spokesperson, Olusegun Olaoye, told our correspondent in an interview shortly after the incident.
Confirming the death of the age of the woman as 80 years old, Olaoye said, “Yes, that is true.”