Posted by By Chioma Gabriel, Asst. Editor & Fred Iwenjora on
Death, in form of brick and mortar creeps in as block of 36 flats collapses...
The magic of our escape, by survivors
Posted to the Web: Saturday, July 22, 2006
*Death, in form of brick and mortar creeps in as block of 36 flats collapses
For the residents of Bola Street, at the end of Ibadan Street in Ebute Metta, these are not happy times. In fact, for many, it is time to grieve, mourn and cry and search for the remains of their loved ones who are trapped in the debris that used to be a four-storey building at No. 56, Bola Street, Ebute-Metta.
The crowd that gathered had never seen anything like it before. Young and old, adults, children and youths of all categories gathered at the sight, in small groups, bearing different tales.
At the ruins that used to be a four-story building, made up of 36 flats and 18 shops, anything could be seen. Properties belonging to the occupants some of whom are still trapped in the rubbles were scattered everywhere. Photo albums, clothes, boxes, plates, and other personal effects were found everywhere.
The shops included restaurants, salons, video clubs, tailoring shops and so on. Some owners of these shops, just like some other tenants are lucky to be alive to tell their stories. Others are not. Some are either unconscious in hospitals or are dead and cannot tell their stories. And that, the neighbours who were the first to offer rescue operations were busy telling.
Bosun Soremekun is a young man in his thirties. He has lived in the neighbourhood for a long time and knows the story of the four-storey building very well.
'We used to call this building Bola 'barracks" because there were so many tenants here. The developer is called Yinka, a.k.a Owonieje, a Kwara man. He used to live in the same house but packed out a few months ago. Obviously, he has noticed that the house was going to crumble. And it did at exactly 7.45 p.m. Tuesday. Everything happened in three minutes. By 6.30 a.m. Wednesday when the neighbours were already far in their rescue operations, the developer came around. When the crowd recognised him, we went after him but he escaped on getting to Cemetery Road. That was when those that pursued him came back.
'Go and check out the house on Ibadan Street. No. 42. It is still the same Yinka that developed it. Go and see the condition of the house now. I think it is better for the tenants there to start packing out because that building is another accident waiting to happen. It has already started showing signs of collapse but people are still living there."
God saved me - Risi
Risi, a young woman in her early thirties owned a tailoring shop on the ground floor of the four-storey building. She was in her shop but around 7 p.m. Tuesday, she went out, leaving her apprentices behind to continue work. She found it strange that within minutes that she left the building, she came back to find only rubbles.
'I know it is God that saved me. Where I went at that time, I would have gone earlier and returned. It is God that saved me and even my workers that I left behind were all rescued alive. I really thank God because it was God that saved us. The way this thing happened, the house just sank. Some of the people are still trapped inside and they are calling us via their cell phones that they are still alive. It is my hope that they get saved because some of the people trapped there are visitors. Their relations may not know they are trapped in the house and might have died."
I don't know if my brother is dead or alive - Peter
Peter Iyiegbu, a big bulky man in his thirties stood in the crowd, lost in thought, his hands folded across his chest. His gaze was focused on the debris that used to be the building. On instinct, the reporter touched him and asked if he was living there.
'My brother was living there. I was here on Tuesday because my brother, Ifeanyi Udezue who lived here and I had a place to go. Ifeanyi is preparing for his traditional wedding. He had printed his traditional wedding invitation cards and had already distributed some. The date for his wedding is September 9.
'Ifeanyi packed in here October last year and he just paid a huge sum of money into his wife's account. He just packed in here last year and what I cannot tell is whether he is still alive or dead. His wife is not yet living with him and I'm worried. He paid N450,000 for five years. I just hope his is alive. I have been trying his number and it's not ringing. Perhaps, his battery has run low. I just hope he is okay. We have rescued some of his properties.
One of our members is trapped there - Red Cross
Adedayo Adeniyi, popularly called ACC is a member of the Red Cross. A female member of the organisation told Saturday Vanguard that Adeniyi's three children have been rescued but the man is still trapped in the rubble.
'Madam, that is the wife of our man. She just came back because she traveled and found this mess. She has gone to look for her children because the children were rescued alive."
I jumped from the balcony - Celestina Agbiie
When she heard a funny noise, she came out to the balcony of the first floor of the four-storey building to find out what was going on. She was shocked to realise that the building was collapsing, and so, she did the first thing that came to her mind. She jumped from the first floor to the next compound and got saved. But she ended up with bruises all over her and twisted ankles. That was the story of Celestina Chinyere Agbiie, a student of Akanu Ibiam Polytechnic who came to Lagos to do her IT. She is currently on admission at Kuba Clinics, Ebute-Metta.
'I was staying with my brothers in the apartment. They are businessmen and had all gone out earlier. Maybe they were still in the hold-up when this thing happened. I was home alone when I heard a deafening noise. So, I came out to the balcony and looked around and then I looked up and found the building sinking very fast. And so, I jumped from the first floor into the next compound and sustained injuries. I have not seen any of my brothers since but they were not at home when it happened. I just hope that none of them was already climbing the staircase or have come in and were either in the video club, chemist or restaurant when this happened. I hope they are very safe."
I went to eat in the restaurant - Wasiu
Wasiu Lamidi was lying on his sick bed at Ebute-Metta Health Centre. He had bruises all over him. Initially, he would not talk to the reporter and when pressurised, he explained he doesn't understand English very well. When further pressurised, he opened up.
'I was not living in the building. I only went there to eat in the restaurant on the ground floor of the building. I had already bought food and settled at the table to eat when we heard a deafening sound. Some of the people that were curious came out to see what it was and then we saw the building crashing down on us. We were rescued the same night because we were already coming out. I have not seen any of my relations because they didn't know I went to the building to eat and I don't know the tenants. I only know the restaurant and I cannot say what became of the other customers. Somebody has been buying me food but she is not related to me."
I was in the video club - Alhaja Adewara
She was lucky in many respects. She still had some of the things she had on her before she set out to the video club to rent a film. And before she knew what was going on, the building crashed down on her, the video club owners and other customers. She was rescued alive the same night of the incident and Alhaja Adewara has been thanking God as she lay on the hospital bed where she was being treated for injuries.
'I was not living there. I went to rent a film at the video club located at the ground floor of the building. We heard the noise and didn't know what it was but then, we saw bricks and roofs crashing down and we tried to escape without success. But we are alive to tell our stories because I don't know what became of others in the building. I was rescued and I am here telling my story. I have been reaching out to my relatives and friends some of whom have been coming around to see me. I give the glory to God because only God saved me."
My sister and her husband died - Nkem Okoh
At Ebute-Metta Health Centre where some of the victims were rushed to for treatment, Nkem Okoh sat at the foot of one of the beds occupied by his mother, 60-year-old Patience Okoh who was rescued alive from the debris of the building. According to Nkem Okoh, his mother had left their Ajegunle residence earlier to go and visit his sister and her husband.
'My sister, Awele and her husband Broderick Mordi have been married for two years without a kid. My sister was pregnant for the first time and my mother was always going to be with her.
'Well, this last visit was ill-fated because this thing happened and my mother was there. My mother is alive and receiving treatment but my sister, that is her daughter and her husband died in her presence. The shock alone made her speechless and coupled with the incident and the injuries she sustained is really too much for her. The whole thing is really much. Losing her daughter and her husband and her unborn grandchild is too much."
I saved my siblings but failed their friends - Obaro
He had an injury on his head and cut a bit deep but Obaro, who got caught in the mess while carrying out a humanitarian service. Obaro had a strong instinct that something was about to happen and had been outdoor most of the time. Around evening, when the sound came, he ran into the house and rescued his young siblings. He went back the second time to rescue the twins who always came around to play with his siblings. He was not so lucky. The crashing house caught up with him on the way and gave him a deep wound on the head. The twins he had gone to rescue were not so lucky. They were found dead and their mother rescued alive but with serious injuries. Both Obaro and the mother of the twins were initially brought to Ebute-Metta Health Centre for treatment but were later taken to the intensive care unit of General Hospital Gbagada where victims with serious injuries were taken for intensive care. But Obaro, despite his condition could acknowledge greetings and then, there was this pride on his face that he suffered while trying to do good.
For Damilare Raji-Toba, a student who used live a few houses away from the ill-fated building, 'I often come here everyday since we moved because I have friends. On that fateful day, the disaster happened about 7.30 p.m. It started like a thunder strike and the entire four storey caved in, it was like a cracking sound some people who were lucky rushed out of the building while those who were not so lucky got trapped. Before then, each person who passed through the stretch of Bola Street looked up the building to see the poor construction work done. Even those who lived in the street felt the building took a few months to complete. The first shocker was the collapse of a centre part of the building just a month after it was completed. The developer quickly patched it up.
I remember some of the residents of that building especially one of them who died. We call him the nibble when he was discovered but his real name was Anayo. Because of the fact that he spoke Yoruba, some people also called him Tunde. The very jovial bachelor sells motorcycles at Oyingbo and died in the collapsed building. Some money was found on him and few area boys had a field day when they discovered his money. Ooh, it's a pity he had to die that way with all his kindness.
‘We should improve on our emergency response service'
For Abimbola Abass, pharmacist in charge of Karaole (pronounced Kara'ole) Pharmacy at No 77 Bola Street two houses away it has been a very busy week. Clad in a fatigue and working shoes he said, 'The Kara'ole Pharmacy became a temporary hospital where first aid was applied on survivors before they were distributed around Lagos hospitals. I have been a medical personnel of several years practice but I never saw the kind of emergency like I saw on that day. Since we set up about a year ago and have been serving the country, no emergency has been like this. I acted like a doctor, a nurse, a pharmacist and what have you. I had to make frantic efforts to reach out to the doctors and nurses with whom we had professional rapport.
They all rallied round and some were stitching gaping wounds, others were applying medications, I was running an emergency ambulance. Some of the occupants of the ill-fated building patronise us. I recall a certain time when a generator caught fire in that same building and some brave boys tried to fling it out of the building and they got burnt in the melee. This incident is the greatest I have ever witnessed since my return to the fold of country pharmacy. You can see that the casualty level has not ended. Even the rescue operators are getting burnt and rushing to this place.
But what I learnt from this incident are two-fold. First is that our building authorities should make sure that building sites are supervised very well. You could see that the rods used in construction of this four storey building are seriously inadequate. You could also see that the sand and concrete mix is a sham.
Secondly, our response attitude to emergency is far too poor. There is need for retraining of those who - for emergency rescue. What we saw here on the day the incident happened showed that we really haven't learnt lessons. Could you believe that the police arrived with their vans and were just standing there? It was not until the paramedics came that action took off. Some people who died may not have died like that if help came early enough. God help Nigeria.