Death Toll at Ikoyi Building Collapse rises to 38
Many persons were believed to be trapped in the rubble, including the building's owner, Mr Femi Osibona, the Managing Director of Fourscore Heights Limited. Ibrahim Farinloye, the National Emergency Management Agency's South-West Coordinator, announced on Thursday that 33 males and three girls had been taken out dead from the rubble.
However, the bodies of two guys were discovered about 11.50 a.m. on Thursday, bringing the total number of people killed to 38. Farinloye went on to say that nine people, one female and eight males, were retrieved alive.
Lagos approved a 15-story construction plan, not a 21-story skyscraper.
Gbolahan Oki, the suspended General Manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, revealed on Monday that the collapsed construction was approved as a 15-story structure, not a 21-story structure.
In response to Oki's claim, the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, confirmed that 21 floors had been approved. On Wednesday, as the rescue mission reached its third day, a fresh document surfaced, revealing that the Lagos State Government had accepted the company's request for 15 floors.
The document was granted by the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority, according to the report. On 44 B, C, D, Gerrard Road, Ikoyi (West), Lagos, a development licence for 15 floors and three blocks was given to Fourscore Height Limited.
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The permit was signed by the agency's general manager on April 9, 2019. Gbenga Omotosho, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, said the government's panel would look into the matter.
"The governor has established a panel of specialists to look into what happened," he explained, "and it will be one of the things the panel will try to determine." The panel will be inaugurated tomorrow."
The whereabouts of the project owner are unclear, however survivors have been identified.
Nothing has been heard of the project owner, Osibona, who was supposed to be on the 18th story of the building when it fell, three days after the catastrophe.
On Tuesday, however, Ibrahim Farinloye, a spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency, confirmed his personal assistant's remains had been retrieved. Hakeem Odumosu, the state commissioner of police, claimed no one knew where Osibona was, and that his body had not yet been found.
Sanwo-Olu, the state governor, said nine persons were retrieved alive and that three of them had been discharged during his visit to the area on Wednesday.
Odutan Timileyin, 26; Ahmed Kinleku, 19 (Cotonou, Benin Republic); Sunday Monday, 21; Adeniran Mayowa, 37; Solagbade Nurudeen, 33; and Waliu Lateef, 32 are the six injured survivors, according to him.
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