Twenty-nine adults and 48 children have escaped death as a storey building collapsed at Ijora Badia area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria on Thursday.

The building located at 26, Afolabi Alasia Street Gaskiya road Ijora Badia was said to have partially collapsed.

Director General, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu said following distress calls, a response team was dispatched to the location and that upon arrival, discovered that a storey building showing visible cracks and signs of dilapidation had collapsed at the rear, resulting from what appeared to be of a lack of general maintenance of the property.

“Fortunately, there is no loss of life or injury sustained at the scene of incident. Agency responders and Police officers from Ijora Badia are working together to evacuate all the occupants. The area has been cordoned off to prevent any secondary incident,” he said.

He said enumeration on people living at the building had been conducted.

“There are twenty (20) rooms with a total of twenty nine (29) adults (fourteen female and 15 male) and forty eight (48) children inhabiting the building.

“The structural review has revealed that the entire building is weak, dilapidated and no longer fit for inhabitation. There is also a clear threat being posed to the adjoining building,” he said.

Oke-Osanyintolu stated that the building had been sealed by the Lagos State Building Control Agency,LASBCA and cordoned off by the agency response team.

By Kazeem Ugbodaga