Death toll in the collapsed five-storey building in Lekki area of Lagos, had risen to 18 as at 9:15pm yesterday. A woman from Benin Republic and her children were said to be among the dead. Many people, who are workers on the building were believed to have slept inside the uncompleted structure before it caved in.
Apart from the 18 persons that died, 13 were rescued from the rubbles, while over 70 are still believed to be trapped . It was learnt that about 150 workers were brought in late last week for work on the building, which was initially meant to be a three storey building. The General Manager the Lagos State Building Control Agency, Shola Adeigbe said on the collapsed building:
“I learned that there was an approval for the building from the district officer. The materials used for the construction are substandard. It was a foundation failure because it sank before collapsing. We’ll subject the entire building to structural stability test. The only thing now is to ensure that they construct with quality materials.”