Crime News
Lekki Gardens Building Collapse: Death Toll Rises To 16, Beninese Woman & Baby Among Victims
March 9, 2016 – Death Toll Of Lekki Gardens Building Collapse In Ikate Lagos At 16, Beninese Woman, Kids & Nursing Mother Among Victims
Lound cry erupted yesterday at Horizon 1, Lekki Gardens, Ikate area of Lagos State, where a five-storey building sank and crumbled like a pack of cards. The incident, which occurred around 3a.m., claimed the lives of a nursing woman, her eight month old baby and her second child as well as 15 others while 13 people were rescued from the rubble. At press time, rescue efforts were ongoing while many people, including women and children were still trapped.
Elderly women were seen at the site, praying and weeping. The building was originally meant for a three-story building but the owners suddenly raised it to five-storey. The dead are a Beninese woman and her two kids.
The others are men. Speaking of the woman and her kids, one Fidelis Anjolo, a worker at the site, said:
“The Beninese woman and her children came from Cotonou to meet her husband. The man hadn’t been home for three months. She thought her husband was lying that he has not been paid for three months. She came to see things for herself and got trapped in the building.” It was gathered that 150 workers from Benin Republic were brought in on Monday evening to continue work on the building, which was at the roofing stage.
These foreigners are causalities of the collapsed building. There are other workers, who, owing to everyday transport fare and distance to home and the site, used to sleep inside the building, except at weekends.
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D Hunter
March 9, 2016 at 4:30 AM
Chai..what a loss of lives?
The Landlord should e arrested at once without delay.
A foudation that was originally designed to carry 3 storeys he went ahead to add 2 more storeys just bc of he wanted to be generating more money from the building and ended up taking more lives.
G R E E D.
May their souls RIP.
Out of annoyance, I just have to….
#continuemystrolling#
fifelomo
March 9, 2016 at 6:12 AM
God pls have mercy. Initially it was supposed to be 3storey and out of greed u made it five. You can’t even account for the intial plan nor the new. You have just wasted lives. Mchew, wish u were trapped in the building aswell
Metu Nyetu
March 9, 2016 at 7:00 AM
The building was originally meant for a three-story building but the owners suddenly raised it to five-storey. This is why I say we behave like sheep. This ain’t the first time. Why do we delight repeating ill-events? We don’t learn. Even some of the victims of this may not fully claim that they did not know about this change of plan. Too bad.
sola olaniyi
March 9, 2016 at 7:40 AM
wicked and selfish people..how can u raise a building from its initial approved plan of 3 to 5
hadijheart
March 9, 2016 at 8:19 AM
OMG!!! Dat guy is tryin 2 say somtin wit his hands up. God help us in naija bcuz of greed.
Maryf
March 9, 2016 at 8:25 AM
Terrible, God please save them. May the souls of the departed RIP
chyna
March 9, 2016 at 9:02 AM
oh my God this is very sad story indeed. God help the rescue team save their lives
Amazon
March 9, 2016 at 12:27 PM
So sad RIP the dead
Jojo
March 9, 2016 at 1:43 PM
You see what greed can cause. RIP tho the dead.
Jilo
March 9, 2016 at 3:01 PM
Fellow Country men, do you now understand why we need to be firm on our law in this Country. When some people ignore the law and believe they can get away with anything, this is the result. I’m quite sure that the building was not approved for 5 storey the contractor ignore the law because of his own profit and put many lives in danger. This has been constantly happening in Lagos and nothing was done to stop it. The day we stop playing politics with the lives of our innocent citizen will be the beginning of our new phase of better future. All those Contractors, Builders and Developers are close associates of the Governor. They have poured in so much money in the political campaign and now they are untouchable because they put their governor there. This is the reason why nobody has ever been convicted of illegal addition to the existing building. If the situation continues in this trend, the only people that will be affected mostly are innocent people and construction workers.
dot
March 9, 2016 at 7:30 PM
im an architect and i get this requests alot. clients with a single story duplex want to add 2 more floors and convert to block of flats. i tell them, not possible. its likely the engineers specified details for single story, also likely the contractor underbuilt to save costs. so its not safe to assume it was overbuilt to withstand 2 more floors, unless u want to tear it down n start afresh. its the greed that kills us all.
Olanrewaju
March 9, 2016 at 11:07 PM
RIP to the dead
Precious
March 10, 2016 at 10:49 AM
This is a sad one
John Emeka
March 11, 2016 at 9:14 AM
Imagine smtin dat z mean’t 4 three story building now being added 2 more due 2 carelessness & greedy
my lady
March 12, 2016 at 1:13 PM
what a tragedy?