JUST IN: Three dead as another building collapses in Lagos

By Doris Isreal Ijeoma At least three site workers have been reported dead following the collapse of a building at Arowojobe Estate in Maryland, Lagos State, early Thursday morning. The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) confirmed the incident through Permanent Secretary Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu in a statement to NAN.  The building collapse occurred at No. 13 Wilson Mba Street, Arowojobe Estate, Maryland. Dr. Oke-Osanyintolu stated that the deceased were male site workers who were recovered from the scene. “The agency received a distress call regarding a collapsed building at the above address at about 3.49 a.m. “This prompted the immediate activation of the agency’s response team to the scene of the incident at 3.58 a.m. “It was discovered that a set of three terraces under construction had collapsed Search and rescue operations began immediately and three adult males were recovered dead, two male adults were rescued alive and one adult male trapped under the rubble was rescued,” he said. He added that the rescued ones were carried out through the efforts of LASEMA and the Lagos State Fire Service. “All the six men were site workers. “They are receiving pre hospital care on location while the State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit has been contacted for the remains of the three fatalities. “A combined team of agency personnel, fire service and Nigeria Police are working at the scene. “LASEMA’s excavator has been deployed to accelerate the search and rescue operations,” he said.

Fire: LASEMA rescues 7 children from orphanage

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) has rescued seven children from a fire incident at an orphanage/motherless babies home on Sunday in Lagos.This is contained in a statement signed by Mr Nosa Okunbor, Head, Public Affairs Unit, LASEMA, in the early hours of Monday.LASEMA said that the home was engulfed by a domestic fire which reportedly started from an air conditioning unit in the house due to power surge on Sunday afternoon.It said that the seven male children were all rescued by the agency from the one-storey building housing the home which is located at No. 7 Wole Madariola St., off Enitan Kusimo Street, Aguda, Lagos.“A one-storey building housing an orphanage/motherless babies home was engulfed by fire which reportedly started from an air conditioning unit in the house as a result of power surge which was said to have quickly spread out.“A total of seven boys with ages ranging between one and seven years were quickly evacuated from the home and safely relocated to the compound opposite the home.“Management team of the home informed LASEMA of plans to relocate the children to the house of the owner of the home temporarily, to ensure their welfare was sustained.“The fire which had initially spread to the storage room of the home has been extinguished with dampening down concluded.“Post disaster assessment revealed that the whole of the first floor was salvaged, while the fire was contained in the store room and the rest of the ground floor was also salvaged,” LASEMA said.The agency said that the children were formally handed over to officials of the Child Protection Unit of the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development who formally handed them over to the Red Cross.LASEMA said that neither injuries nor casualties were recorded in the near-fatal incident, adding that the operation was successfully concluded in record time.