[Updates] 21-Storey Building Collapse: Death toll rises to 38

The death toll from the 21-story building that collapsed on Gerrard Road in Ikoyi, Lagos State, on Monday has climbed to 38.

Workers were on the scene when the building collapsed at 2 p.m.

Many people were trapped in the rubble, including the building’s owner, Mr Femi Osibona, the Managing Director of Fourscore Heights Limited.

Read Also; 10 die as 21-Storey Building Collapses in Lagos

Ibrahim Farinloye, the National Emergency Management Agency’s South-West Coordinator, announced on Thursday that 33 males and three females had been brought out dead from the rubble.

Farinloye went on to say that nine people, one female and eight males, were retrieved alive.

Gbolahan Oki, the suspended General Manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, revealed on Monday that the collapsed construction was approved as a 15-story structure, not a 21-story structure.

In response to Oki’s claim, the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, confirmed that 21 floors had been approved.

On Wednesday, as the rescue mission reached its third day, a fresh document surfaced, revealing that the Lagos State Government had accepted the company’s request for 15 storeys.

Benuepost, The document was issued by the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority, according to Metro.

On 44 B, C, D, Gerrard Road, Ikoyi (West), Lagos, a development permit for 15 storeys and three blocks was given to Fourscore Height Limited.

The permit was signed by the agency’s general manager on April 9, 2019.

Gbenga Omotosho, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, said the government’s panel would investigate the matter.

“The governor has put together a panel of experts to look into what happened, and it will be one of the things the panel will try to figure out,” he said. The panel will be inaugurated tomorrow (Thursday).”

On Tuesday, however, Ibrahim Farinloye, a spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency, confirmed his personal assistant’s body had been recovered.

Hakeem Odumosu, the state commissioner of police, claimed no one knew where Osibona was, and that his body had not yet been found.

Sanwo-Olu, the state governor, said nine persons were retrieved alive and that three of them had been discharged during his visit to the area on Wednesday.

Odutan Timileyin, 26; Ahmed Kinleku, 19 (Cotonou, Benin Republic); Sunday Monday, 21; Adeniran Mayowa, 37; Solagbade Nurudeen, 33; and Waliu Lateef, 32 are the six injured survivors, according to them.