A three-storey residential building has collapsed in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, killing at least five people, while many are feared trapped, emergency response services said.
“Twenty-three people have been rescued alive including seven children and 16 adults,” said Ibrahim Farinloye of Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency on Monday. “Nine of those rescued alive have been treated and discharged.”
Among the dead are a woman and her son, said Farinloye.
The residential apartment building collapsed late on Sunday night in the Oyingbo area of Lagos, Nigeria’s most populated city, with more than 14 million people.
Residents and passersby gathered before dawn as they joined a team of emergency and aid workers who searched through the rubble looking for survivors. It is not clear how many occupants were in the building located in a densely populated area.
Building collapses frequently happen in Africa’s most populous country.
Lagos recorded five such incidents last year, including one in November in which more than 40 people died when a high rise still being constructed crumbled on workers.
In January, a church collapse in the southern city of Asaba killed three people.
Authorities face accusations of failing to enforce building regulations for safer structures.
