At least eight people, including a baby, have died and 26 others have been rescued after a three-storey building collapsed in the Alakija area of Lagos State on Thursday, emergency authorities have said.
The building, a shopping complex located on Old Ojo Road near Alakija Bus Stop in Satellite Town, collapsed around 11:40 a.m., trapping an unknown number of occupants beneath the rubble.
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The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) said emergency responders had recovered eight bodies and rescued 26 people from the debris as of 4:20 p.m. on Thursday.
The Permanent Secretary of LASEMA, Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu, stated that rescue efforts were continuing to locate and extricate any remaining victims.
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“The search and rescue operation is still ongoing,” Mr Oke-Osanyintolu noted in an update.
The latest figures marked a sharp increase from an earlier assessment by the agency, which reported that two people had been rescued. At the same time, the body of an adult male had been recovered shortly after emergency teams arrived at the scene.
Mr Oke-Osanyintolu explained that responders from LASEMA, the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), and other emergency agencies were deployed to the site.
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He noted that preliminary reports indicated that several shop owners and other occupants were inside the building when it gave way.
“There are reports that additional persons, including shop owners who had resumed business activities in the complex, may still be trapped,” he said earlier.
The collapse triggered panic in the busy commercial neighbourhood as residents, traders and passers-by gathered around the scene while emergency workers searched through the rubble for survivors.
Rescue operation
In a separate statement, the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service said it received a distress call at 11:37 a.m. and immediately mobilised personnel from the Ijegun-Egba Fire Station to the scene.
The agency stressed that its operatives arrived at the site by 11:49 a.m. and commenced search-and-rescue operations alongside other emergency responders.
The Director of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye, stated that the collapsed structure was occupied at the time of the incident.
She disclosed that 10 people were rescued alive and handed over to medical personnel for treatment.
“As of the time of this report, 10 persons have been rescued alive with varying degrees of injuries and have been handed over to medical personnel for necessary treatment,” Mrs Adeseye said.
She added that rescue operations remained ongoing to ensure that no victim was left trapped beneath the debris.
According to the fire service, personnel from the Federal Fire Service, the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Navy, the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps, the Nigerian Red Cross Society and other emergency agencies joined the operation.
Authorities have yet to determine the immediate cause of the collapse.
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Recurring concern
Thursday’s tragedy adds to the growing list of building collapses recorded in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, despite repeated government assurances aimed at strengthening compliance with building regulations and improving oversight of construction activities.
Experts have consistently linked many building collapses in the state to structural defects, the use of substandard construction materials, poor project supervision, and violations of approved building plans.
In recent years, the Lagos State Government has intensified enforcement efforts through the Lagos State Building Control Agency, including the sealing and demolition of distressed structures considered unsafe for habitation or commercial use.
However, incidents of building collapse continue to raise concerns about compliance with safety standards and the effectiveness of regulatory enforcement in the state.
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