Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has announced that the number of casualties in the collapsed high-rise in the Ikoyi area of Lagos has reached 42.
The Governor revealed this during a visit to the site on Saturday, where he was accompanied by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Nasarawa State governor, Abdullahi Sule.
“There are additional six people that we’ve also been able to identify and who were on site when the building collapsed,” he said during the visit.
“They were taken to the Police Hospital in Falomo for treatment and some of them have been discharged. We have taken the full records of survivors in the incident. And this gives a total of 15 people rescued alive. We have a total of 42 bodies that have been recovered.”
The survivors were identified as 38-year-old woman, Glory Samsom; Ndajor Ahmed, Yunusa Abubaka, Ajiboye Habib, Jeremiah Samson, and a man simply identified as Emem.
The governor added that many of the survivors sustained injuries of varying degrees while 20-year-old Samson is in a coma.
According to him, 49 families had filled the missing persons’ register as of Saturday morning.
He explained that the register was important so as to take account of the rescued victims and the bodies recovered.
Sanwo-Olu stated that identification of bodies had already begun and DNA examination was being undertaken on some of the bodies difficult to be identified by their families.
“There is a sum of money that has been reserved by the State Government for succor and to give for befitting burial for those who died in the incident,” Sanwo-Olu noted.
“Families that wish to accept it are being supported for the burial arrangement. Also, survivors in hospitals have been given financial support to help them settle and cope with challenges of feeding in the aftermath of the incident.”
Search and rescue operations have, however, continued.
