Apartment death toll rises
Rescue workers pulled four more bodies from the rubble of a collapsed four-storey apartment building in Nigeria’s largest city Lagos today, bringing the official death toll to 20 as the structure sagged under the weight of heavy overnight rains and people walking on the wreckage.
The building’s 36 apartments were home to up to 180 people, and there were several businesses on the ground floor.
Dozens of survivors were pulled out of the building yesterday, but by this morning people had stopped received mobile phone calls from those trapped inside and no more calls for help could be heard.
“We are still hoping to find people alive. That’s our prayer,” said Sanya Floretino, a Red Cross official at the site. Floretino confirmed that 18 bodies had been found and said he didn’t know the source of higher death numbers reported on Nigerian television.
