Up to 42 persons have died and 15 others survived in the tragic 21-storey Ikoyi building collapse that happened on Monday, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, confirmed on Saturday.
The governor’s disclosure, is the latest update of the incident that saw the towers under construction at Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, caving in under its weight, trapping a yet to be ascertained number of people, as bodies of the dead and survivors continued to be pulled out even till Thursday.
Sanwo-Olu in the company of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule, said: “Nine survivors were initially recorded with 42 deaths now. We have additional six survivors that were newly discovered at the Police Hospital Falomo, making total survivors 15.”
Sanwo-Olu said 49 families had filled the missing persons’ register as at Saturday morning.
He said the register had helped the state government to reconcile the details of victims rescued alive and also medically account for bodies recovered.”
Informing that identification of bodies by relatives had commenced, he added that DNA examination was being undertaken on some of the bodies that are difficult to be identified by their families.
“There is a sum of money that has been reserved by the State Government for succour and to give befitting burial for those who died in the incident. Families that so wish to accept it are being supported for the burial arrangement.
“Also, survivors in hospitals have been given the financial support to help them settle and cope with challenges of feeding in the aftermath of the incident.
He added that emergency management officials, had also started the process of clearing the rubble to create more space in a tight compound, explaining that the work at the collapse building site had reached a stage where using earth-moving equipment was becoming very difficult.
Information and Strategy Commissioner Gbenga Omotoso said work was still ongoing and would continue until the government could account for everybody inside the building at time of collapse and certify that nobody was left behind in the collapsed building.
He said: “For bodies that may be very difficult to identify, we are going to be conducting DNA tests for such bodies to be identified. There are rules for giving bodies to people. There are some of the bodies that are in a state that it would be unprofessional for the hospitals to allow people to look at them in that present state and for them to be released the way they are. That is why we have the little delay that we are having. But if you go to IDH, Yaba from 4pm, you should be able to see some of the bodies and be able to identify who you want to identify.”
The multi-sectoral search and rescue operation is being led by teams of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), with the support of construction giants, Julius Berger, Craneburg, HiTech and China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC).
