Nine persons have been rescued from a sinking building in the Maryland area of Lagos by the joint team of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed on Monday.
According to the Permanent Secretary Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Dr Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu in message to Lagos Panorama said the agency responded to distress calls at Akinwunmi street, Mende, Maryland and upon arrival, identified a flooded building due to the heavy rainfall of the last two days.
It was also gathered that about 9 Occupants of the building were trapped on the first floor.
Oke-Osanyintolu further stated “Search and Rescue operations concluded by a combined team of Agency responders, LASEMA, Lagos State Fire service and NEMA. They have successfully rescued all 9 female occupants with no mortality or casualty recorded”.
“The building has been cordoned off and LABSCA officials have been contacted for integrity testing” he concluded.
The Lagos Territorial Coordinator of the agency Ibrahim Farinloye confirmed the development in a statement to Channels Television.
He said, “NEMA received a distressed alert on a sinking storey building where nine people are said to be trapped. The building is located at 47 Akinwunmi street, Akinwunmi North, Estate Mende, Maryland, Ikeja.”
“All nine trapped ladies have been successfully rescued,” he added.
The NEMA official quoted one of the rescued persons identified as Ms Blessing to have said the affected are mostly ladies.
Farinloye explained that “the landlord of the building had used a ladder to escape but NEMA questioned him for failure to contact emergency responders instead of one of the trapped victim’s office contacting the agency”.
He said: “The landlord just returned to the scene and he has been handed over to the Police for leaving the vulnerable ladies. About 35 buildings on Akinwumi Estate, 31 buildings on Arowojobe Estate, and Ebun Otti Estate are seriously impacted”.
Other agencies who were on the ground include the Lagos State State Fire Service.
The early morning rainfall, which lasted about four hours, caused floods in many Lagos communities.
