A medical doctor, Bukky Coker and her sister, Toyin, a university graduate, were killed in their sleep on Wednesday in another building collapse in Lagos.
They were occupants of Block M20 at
the Low Cost Housing Estate, Oke-Afa, Isolo.
It was learnt that initially the
neighbours did not know that the woman’s daughters were under the rubble as she
had told the rescuers after she was brought out wounded that she was not sure
her daughters came home the previous night after a church service in Isolo.
But when one of their neighbours
said that one of the ladies even paid her a visit while returning home, the
rescuers quickly went into action, combing the rubble until they located the
27-year old medical doctor at about 5.30 a.m. face downward on her bed, dead,
with blood gushing out from her head and other parts of her body.
Further frantic efforts by the
search party soon led to the discovery of her elder sister, Toyin, 30, on her
bed also, bleeding profusely and brought out dead at 6.02 a.m.
Their mother, who was rescued at
about 3.30 a.m. was quickly rushed to the Isolo General Hospital, where she was
later transferred to the Medical Centre at the estate after receiving treatment.
According to sources, the widow had
planned to pack out of the building by the end of this month, following a
notice from the owner to pave way for renovation.
The occupants of the other five
flats had complied with the directive while two young men, who needed a
temporary place, occupied a flat.
According to sources, one of the
boys who were returning home about 11.30 p.m., discovered that the door to
their flat had become stiff, owing to cracks on the walls of the building.
He immediately ran to the flat of
the widow to alert her that the defective building was now in a more terrible
condition, advising her to leave.
But she reportedly said providence
would take control with a promise to ascertain the authenticity of his claim
that the building was in a precarious state.
Immediately after the boy and his
colleague stepped out, a half wing of the woman’s flat caved in, trapping her
and her children. The entire building was pulled down by the state government
at about noon, on Wednesday.
Another neighbour, Amodu Omoniyi
Iyetayo who reportedly returned from a church service some minutes before the
building caved in, was said to have informed the mother of the dead ladies that
the building was about to collapse.
Iyetayo, speaking with
Nigerian Tribune said: “I came back from the church and had a
premonition that the house was going to collapse and alerted my
neighbours, before escaping from the building.
“I was still removing my valuables
from the building when I heard a sudden explosion and what I saw was that
part of the block that contained our apartment had collapsed,” he
added.
The elder sister, Toyin
returned from the station where she served under the National Youth
Service Corps (NYSC) scheme, three days ago.
The bodies of the children
were later evacuated by men of the Red Cross Society, who were assisted
by officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Authority and other Lagos
State government officials.
Investigations by revealed that the
building had shown signs of imminent collapse, following multiple cracks in
many parts.
Source: Nigerian Tribune
No comments:
Post a Comment