Death toll from collapsed Lagos building rises to 38

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says 38 bodies have been retrieved from the rubble of the 21-storey building which collapsed on Monday.

The high-rise building in Ikoyi collapsed around 2 pm with workers inside but nine persons have been rescued.

According to NEMA, two male bodies were recovered in the last 10 minutes which brings the number of casualties to 38.

Of the bodies retrieved from the rubble, 35 are males and three are females, while the survivors are one male and eight females.

TheCable had reported that Femi Osibona, the owner of Fourscore Homes and developer of the property, is believed to be trapped in the rubble as he has not been seen since the day of the incident.

Also believed to be trapped amid the debris are Wale Bob-Oseni, a US-bound real estate dealer and executive director of African Bureau for Legislative Empowerment; Oyinye Enekwe, personal assistant to Osibona who got employed last week; Zainab Sanni, a 25-year-old female National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member.

Recovery operation is still in progress on the site.