One dead as building balcony collapses in Lagos

Kazeem Ugbodaga

One person has been reportedly killed as the balcony of a building collapsed at Mile 12 area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.

The balcony of the storey building, located on No. Ali Close, Mile 12 caved in around 8:45am on Saturday, according to the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA.

LASEMA’s General Manager, Michael Akindele told PM News that the balcony of the building partially collapsed while a 47-year old woman was at the balcony.

He said the woman sustained serious injury and that while being rushed to the hospital, she died on the way.

Akindele said investigation and assessment conducted by the LASEMA’s emergency response team, showed that the building had shown sign of distress as some portion of the balcony was caving in.

According to him, full scale investigation to ascertain the actual cause of the collapse would be carried out by relevant government agencies.

“A 47-year-old woman sustained bodily injury and died on her way to the hospital, and no other casualty was recorded,” he said.

The LASEMA GM said residents of the building had been evacuated and the place condoned off in order to avert disaster, adding the storey building contained 18 rooms.

Akindele appealed to Lagosians to report cases of distressed buildings in their areas to the state government in order to avert disaster.

Rescue agencies at the scene are LASEMA, Lagos State Fire Service, Lagos State Ambulance Service, LASAMBUS and the police.

Few days ago, a 5-storey building under construction in Lekki area of Lagos collapsed and killed 34 people while many were injured.

The building was owned by the Lekki Gardens.