Building collapse: 49 persons reported missing, death toll now 42, says Sanwo-Olu

The death toll from the collapse of a 21-storey building in the Ikoyi area of Lagos state has increased to 42.

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, disclosed this on Saturday when he visited the site of the collapsed building in the company of Abdullahi Sule, Nasarawa governor, and Bola Tinubu, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

On Friday, the Lagos state government told family members of victims of the building collapse to visit the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) at Yaba, to identify their relatives.

There is still no official figure of how many people were in the building when the structure caved in on Monday.

Speaking on Saturday, Sanwo-Olu said 15 survivors have been recorded so far.

He added that 49 persons said to be at the building before the collapse have been declared missing by their relatives.

“Now, we have a total of 42 bodies that have been recovered. We have nine survivors. However, there are additional six people that we have also been able to identify; they were on site. They were treated at the police hospital at Falomo,” the governor said.

“They have discharged some of them. We are getting all of the full records of the six additional survivors — that means a total of 15.”

The governor had, on Tuesday, announced the indefinite suspension of Gbolahan Oki, the general manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA).

“We will say that we had to take from the head, from the leadership of that agency,” he had said.

“And you can rest assured that if there are other people that are found in the course of the investigation, they will face the full wrath of the law.”

Meanwhile, Obafemi Hamzat, deputy governor of Lagos state, had earlier said construction at the collapsed building was once stopped after it failed a structural integrity test.