A two-storey building has collapsed in Ogun State in south-western Nigeria, leaving three people feared dead. An unspecified number of occupants were trapped beneath the rubble when the structure came down.
According to the account carried by Channels Television, the building gave way along Bale Road, near the Adjumwa bus stop, in a local government area of the state. Reports described the structure as having sunk into the ground as it collapsed, throwing the surrounding neighbourhood into alarm.
According to eyewitnesses and emergency responders, the incident happened the previous afternoon, at around two o'clock, after a heavy downpour and immediately after a thunder strike. Unconfirmed reports suggested that about fifteen people were occupying the building when it came down.
Rescue efforts at the scene have so far brought twelve people out of the debris alive. Among those rescued were two babies said to be less than two months old, who were pulled from the wreckage of the collapsed building.
Three bodies have since been recovered from the collapse and deposited, confirming three deaths, while the other occupants were pulled out alive and taken to safety. Rescuers were continuing to work through the site, with the exact number of people who had been inside the building at the time still being established.
The regional director of the National Emergency Management Agency for the south-west said response agencies had been activated and had been on the ground since the previous day, carrying out search and rescue, and that the operation had now moved to the evacuation of the debris. The local government council chairman, Akushimo Idris, was also at the site as the response continued.
Officials said the Ogun State materials-testing authorities were carrying out integrity tests to assess whether other nearby buildings might also be at risk. The emergency agency said the situation at the scene was calm and under control, and that it was working in collaboration with the state emergency management agency and local authorities.
The collapse is the latest in a series of building failures to have caused deaths and injuries in Nigeria. As search and rescue operations continued at the site, officials said efforts to account for everyone who had been inside the building and to establish the full toll of the collapse were ongoing.
