About 25 people were trapped with fears about their safety after a three-storey building, located along Airport Road, Oshodi, Lagos collapsed Monday night.
The building, which was said to have collapsed at about 9pm Monday, was under construction but some of its floors had already been taken by a bank which was renovating them for possible commencement of banking services January 2007.
As at press time last night, there were fears that no fewer than 10 persons were still unaccounted for while some of those rescued were treated and allowed to go.
THISDAY gathered that six of the victims have also been placed on admission and receiving medical treatment at the High Rock Hospital, Afariogun Street, Lagos, and of the six, one was said to be on danger list, following injuries sustained.
According to an eyewitness account, majority of the victims were said to be labourers working on the site and the incident occurred while they were asleep.
One of the victims, who only identified himself as Rasaq, blamed the cause of the accident on sub-standard materials being used by the contactor.
According to him, some of the pillars of the building were not so strong, adding that some of them (labourers) even knew it was only a matter of time before the building would collapse.
�It�s just that we never believed that it was going to collapse while work was still on at the site�, he added.
Though he could not give an accurate figure of those trapped under the debris, he claimed it could be as high as 25, though some of the site workers went out at the time the building collapsed.
Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Deputy Superintendent (DSP), Olubode Ojajuni, who confirmed the incident said, only 12 persons have so far been rescued.
Though, he did not rule out the possibility of more persons being trapped under the debris, he added that a combined team of the police, the Nigerian Air Force officials, Federal Fire servicemen and some residents of the area were still combing the debris for any dead victim or survivor.
Ojajuni, who was visibly concerned about the frequent cases of collapsed structures in Lagos state, stated that the Command got to know of the incident through a phone call from a Good Samaritan.
Upon the receipt of the information, he said the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Ajao Police Station, a Chief Superinten-dent of Police (CSP), along with some officers raced to the scene.
Nov292006