Ikoyi building collapse: Owner’s body recovered 3 days after
Three days after rigorous operations, a team of emergency responders yesterday recovered the body of the owner of the collapsed Ikoyi 21-storey…
Three days after rigorous operations, a team of emergency responders yesterday recovered the body of the owner of the collapsed Ikoyi 21-storey building, Femi Osibona.
The rescue workers told Daily Trust that the body of the Chairman of Fourscore Heights Limited was recovered on Thursday evening.
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The building, located on Gerrard Street, Ikoyi, caved in on Monday, with several people trapped.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu Thursday put the casualty figure at 32, jumping from 22 the previous day.
Daily Trust learnt that most of the casualties were vendors selling food for workers at the site.
There are fears that the death toll may rise to 70 as some workers are believed to have still being trapped under the rubble.
Meanwhile, the governor has declared three days of mourning with the Nigerian flag to flown at half-mast.
Sanwo-Olu earlier inaugurated a tribunal of inquiry chaired by the President of the Nigeria Institute of Town Planners, Toyin Ayinde, to probe the immediate and remote cause of the building collapse.
The governor, who returned to the site yesterday, disclosed that only 19 families had declared missing persons.
He also met with some of the distressed family members at the site, cheering them and raising their hopes, while the rescue efforts progressed.
Sanwo-Olu said he had ordered structural integrity test on the remaining two high-rise structures in the premises where the 21-storey collapsed.
The action, he said, became necessary to safeguard the lives of emergency workers on the rescue operation.
The governor had earlier visited Lagos Island General Hospital where survivors of the building collapse were receiving medical attention.
He said one of the survivors had been moved to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in Ikeja for advanced medical examination.
From Abdullateef Aliyu, Eugene Agha & Christiana T. Alabi, Lagos