Many workers are feared trapped in a 21-storey building under construction which collapsed on Gerard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos on Monday.
The building collapsed around 2.30 p.m.
An witness, who is also a worker on site, said that five dead bodies were seen at the top of the rubbles of the collapsed building.
He added that two persons had so far been rescued alive.
Two bodies were seen being removed away from the rubbles shortly before emergency responders, comprising Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, National Emergency Management Agency and Lagos Building Control Agency arrived at the building site.
Crowd control remained a challenge at the scene.
Meanwhile, a document has emerged showing that the firm of structural engineers supervising the collapsed building resigned from the site over failure to adhere to engineering regulations.
A letter had been written to Mr. Femi Osibona said to be the Managing Director of Fourscore Heights Limited by the Prowess Engineering Limited that it could no longer go ahead with the work due to the way the project was being executed.
The letter, which was signed by Muritala Olawale, was dated February 20, 2020.
Below is the full text of the letter with which the firm excused itself from the construction work:
RE: PROPOSED GERRARD TERRACES FOR FOURSCORE LIMITED
This letter is to formally inform you of the withdrawal of our structural consultancy service from the above named project. We arrived at this decision due to fact that we no longer share same vision with you as our client in terms of how the project is being executed.
We guarantee the integrity of the first two buildings and also works done up to the fourth floor of the third building supervised by as provided specification have been met in terms of required concrete strength. This we do not have control over as we do not have the concrete cube test results for each stage of the building till date. Also, kindly note that we are not taking responsibility for any other construction errors that may have occurred over time on the project.
Furthermore, we request that our company’s name and logo be removed from the project board and also kindly notify all necessary approving authorities of our withdrawal from the project.
We regret this decision and the lost opportunity to do business together. We look forward to future cooperation in other projects.
Yours Faithfully,
Muritala Olawale
Managing Director
For: Prowess Engineering Limited
