Nigeria (AP) — The top portion of one of the tallest buildings in Nigeria’s main city sheared off during a storm Wednesday, raining debris onto mostly empty streets below but leaving at least two people dead, witnesses said.
Part of the top nine stories of the 21-story Nigerian Industrial Development Bank, which had had a fire on two floors two days ago, crumbled and fell away around 8 a.m. (0700 GMT), amid a heavy downpour, said Segun Ade, a guard at a nearby building. He said falling debris killed two people.
Nigerians are staying home countrywide for a census. That likely saved lives as the fixture on the Lagos skyline would normally be filling with workers at the time of the accident, and the streets below would have been bustling.
Late Wednesday morning, a few people could be seen still inside the remaining parts of the building, waving frantically for help. Rescue workers assembled below.
“We’re trying to see how we can rescue survivors still trapped,” said Leke Pitan, the top official of the Health Ministry in Lagos, who supervised rescue efforts. He said there were no people beneath the scattered rubble.
A Monday fire in the building gutted the 10th and 11th floors and small chunks had been falling for days, area residents said.
Heavy winds during a storm Wednesday morning sent larger sections tumbling. Then the building split in two from the 11th floor, leaving one half standing and as the other half falling to the streets below.