Lagos Commences Manual Demolition Of Marked Buildings
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The Lagos State Government has commenced the manual demolition of buildings marked on Freeman street at the Ita Faji area of Lagos Island.
This follows the collapse of a three-storey building on Massey street in the same area.
The building caved in on March 13, killing about nine people, while about 50 were rescued.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode had during an assessment tour to the site, vowed to demolish all illegal school buildings in the area.
READ ALSO: Lagos Building Collapse: Rescue Operations Concluded – State Govt
He made the pledge on Wednesday while responding to concerns raised by some residents on the increase in illegal schools when he visited the scene of a building collapse.
The building said to be 30 years caved in at about 9:45 am, raising fears for the lives of the hundreds of inhabitants, mostly children who are pupils of a school located on the top floor of the building.
“So far, from what I have been briefed, we have rescued about 25 people and some are already dead but we were earlier informed that it was a school, the building is not technically a school, it is a residential building that was actually accommodating an illegal school so to speak on the second floor.
“Like we have said, we have been carrying out a lot of integrity tests on the buildings in this neighborhood and as you can see, some of them have been marked for demolition but we get resistance from landlords but we must continue to save lives and we would intensify our efforts to see that those have failed our integrity test, we would ensure that they are quickly evacuated and we bring the structures down,” he said.
24 hours after the incident occurred, the rescue agencies say they have reached ‘ground zero’ on the site, meaning that all the rubbles had been excavated and there was no evidence that anyone was still trapped.