John Adoyi, PBA Journalism MenteeAt least one dead body was, on Friday, found beneath the rubble of the Banana Island building which collapsed on Wednesday. This came after the Lagos State Government said it used a High-precision 3-D Laser Imagery system to ‘certify’ the incident fatality-free and of insignificant injury.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) on Friday evening said its search and recovery efforts unearthed the remains of an adult male who was not accounted for by the supervisors.
A statement signed by the Commissioner of Information, Gbenga Omotosho, earlier on Thursday had said the Lagos State Government rescued 25 people and that no one died in the building collapse. According to the statement, officials had scanned the collapsed 7-storey structure with high-precision 3-D Laser Imagery and rescued 25 people after “completing search operation.
“Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) had to scan the building with high-precision 3-D Laser Imagery System for life and found no evidence of anyone trapped in the rubble,” the Lagos State government said in a statement just as site “supervisors took a roll call and accounted for everyone.”
The development draws attention to the need for thoroughness in the official management of emergency situations and disasters in the country.
Omotosho had also hinted that excavation was ongoing and that the site was divided into quadrants for a painstaking search and rescue operation.
“Presently, quadrants 2 and 3 have been levelled to ground zero, having completed the search operation. Quadrants 1 and 4 are ongoing,” he said.
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