LAGOS – Panic and grief gripped residents of Alagomeji, Yaba, on Friday night after a three-storey building under construction at 333 Borno Street suddenly came crashing down, trapping several people beneath tons of rubble.
The incident, which occurred around 8:30 p.m., sparked a massive rescue mission as emergency teams raced against time to save lives.
According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), four adult males were successfully rescued and rushed to the hospital. However, the number of persons still buried under the debris remains uncertain, with eyewitnesses giving conflicting accounts—some claiming six people were trapped, others insisting it was five.
> “Responders are still on ground and SAR [search and rescue] operation is ongoing. The number of persons under the rubble cannot be ascertained until it is brought to ground zero,” a NEMA official confirmed.
Rescue teams from NEMA, LASEMA, the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, LASAMBUS, the police, and other agencies immediately cordoned off the site to ensure safety and began digging through the ruins late into the night.
The collapse has once again spotlighted Nigeria’s recurring menace of unsafe buildings, often linked to corruption, weak regulatory oversight, and the use of substandard materials by greedy contractors.
Just in July, another three-storey building collapsed on Lagos Island at 2/4 Asesi Lane, Adeniji Adele Road, leaving residents reeling from yet another avoidable tragedy. Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, confirmed that four victims were rescued in that incident as well.
Friday’s collapse has reignited calls for stricter enforcement of building codes, as weary residents demand an end to the cycle of construction disasters that continue to claim lives.
As of press time, rescue operations were still ongoing in Yaba, with emergency officials assuring that “no effort will be spared to save lives.”
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