Dozens feared trapped after deadly collapse of high-rise in Nigeria
Lagos — Desperate relatives waited on Tuesday for news of missing people a day after a Lagos high-rise building collapsed suddenly, killing at least six people and leaving more trapped inside. The 21-story building was still under construction when it fell abruptly into a pile of concrete slabs on Monday in the wealthy Ikoyi district of Nigeria’s commercial capital. Rescuers said they had managed to pull six people out of the wreckage, but construction workers feared dozens of their colleagues were still trapped inside on Tuesday.
CBS News correspondent Debora Patta said that as time passed, hopes of finding any survivors were fading fast. Rescue workers and locals worked through the night, scouring the mound of rubble and twisted metal.
Sitting on the pavement near the crushed remains of the building, brothers Fawas Sanni, 21 and Afolabi Sanni, 17, were shell shocked as they waited for news of their sister. “Our sister is inside,” said Fawas, a tear rolling down his cheek. Their 25-year-old-sister Zainab was posted on September 6 to the construction site by the National Youth Service Corps, they said. “I was the last one who to spoke to her before she went to work yesterday morning,” said the older brother, covering his head with his hands.
Patta said that some local reports claimed the building had been constructed several floors higher than originally intended, and authorities were criticized by angry crowds gathered at the scene of the disaster, who said rescue efforts didn’t start quickly enough.
As Patta reported, the scene was all too familiar — a replay of building collapses that have plagued Nigeria in recent years. Collapses are tragically common in Lagos and across Africa’s most populous nation, where substandard materials, negligence and a lack of enforcement of construction standards are major problems. Lagos state police said it was too early to determine why the Ikoyi building collapsed, but Lagos emergency management agency manager Femi Oke-Osanyintolu said infractions had been committed in its construction. “We are going to get to the roots of the matter …
