16th September, 2014
Kazeem Ugbodaga & Cyriacus Izuekwe
Ten more dead bodies have been recovered from the debris of the collapsed six-storey building at Synagogue of All Nations, Ikotun area of Lagos, southwest Nigeria, as rescue efforts continue on the fourth day of the collapse.
P.M.NEWS gathered that the rescue workers recovered eight dead bodies Monday night while two more bodies were pulled out of the debris Tuesday morning.
However, a 45-year old woman was also reported to have been rescued from the site of the building that collapsed last Friday.
The woman was said to have walked out of the collapsed building Tuesday morning hale and hearty, after spending three days under the rubble.
Some of the rescue teams include men of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Rapid Response Squad and Lagos State Fire Service.
Spokesperson, National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Ibrahim Farinloye, while confirming the latest development to P.M. NEWS this morning, said: “The total number of death so far has risen to 59 while those rescued alive are now 131 as the rescue operation continues.
“A woman of about 45 years old walked out of the debris on her own around 2.00am today (Tuesday) and 10 more bodies have been recovered,” he said, adding that more dead bodies were likely to be recovered.
He added : “We are deploying the police sniffer dogs to assist in locating trapped victims as we are getting close to the area suspected to have more people trapped. The Lagos State Commissioner of Police has ordered the release of the dogs.
Farinloye commended the decision of the Lagos State Police Command, saying that the dogs would assist in the search-and-rescue and in early conclusion of the operations.
When our reporter visited the church this morning, the rescue teams were busy breaking the rubble to bring out the corpses of the victims still trapped there.
Our reporter gathered that the rescue teams are facing difficulty breaking down the rubble.