Tension gripped residents of Oremeta Street in the Ojodu area of Lagos State on Saturday morning following the collapse of a two-storey building housing the popular Equal Right Restaurant, leaving several individuals trapped beneath the rubble.
The incident, which occurred around 9 a.m., involved not just restaurant staff and patrons but also members of a family said to be inside the premises at the time of the collapse. Eyewitnesses described the moment the structure came down as sudden and terrifying, triggering panic among residents and business owners in the area.
When reporters visited the scene, it was a race against time as various emergency response agencies were fully engaged in rescue operations. Personnel from the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, the Police, and the Federal Road Safety Corps were all present, working in a coordinated effort to locate and extract those still buried under the debris.
Sympathisers and onlookers gathered in large numbers, anxiously watching and offering prayers as excavators and rescue tools were deployed to clear the rubble layer by layer.
Providing an update on the situation, the Permanent Secretary of LASEMA, Dr. Oluwafemi Oke-Osanyintolu, confirmed that five individuals had been pulled out alive from the wreckage as of the time of reporting. He assured the public that rescue efforts were being conducted with utmost caution and professionalism to avoid further harm to potential survivors.
“We are responding systematically, deploying both heavy-duty and light-duty equipment to ensure we get to ground zero safely. Credible information indicates that more individuals are still trapped beneath the debris, so we are proceeding carefully from one layer to the next,” Dr. Oke-Osanyintolu stated.
As of press time, operations were still ongoing, with emergency teams vowing to continue until the entire site is cleared and all victims accounted for. The cause of the building collapse is yet to be officially determined, but authorities are expected to launch a full structural investigation once rescue efforts are concluded.
The incident adds to growing concerns over building safety standards in Lagos, a city that has witnessed several such tragedies in recent years.
