Three family members and many others are still trapped in the 25-storey Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Building on Martins Street, Lagos Island that was gutted by fire on Christmas Eve .
A victim, Adora Policap,who was weeping uncontrollably at the scene of the incident, yesterday,told Daily Sun that three of his siblings are still trapped in one of the buildings:Classic Stores,” the building is still standing, but the extention has collapsed. They have gone to salvage some of their wares in the store when part of the building collapsed and they couldn’t come out again. As I am taking to you now , my siblings are still im the rubbles for four days now. They sell shoes and clothes.
‘ They have been trapped since on Wednesday. I believe that they are still alive, but they are unable to communicate. If help comes , they will survive. Everybody knows them in the market as the Classics. The three of them are : Cashmir, Stephen and KC ,they are from the same Father and mother. I am their elder sister. Our parents are dead . I am crying because they are brothers from the same parents. If they are not rescued, the tragedy will be too much to bear .
” I am beginning the emergency responders, Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu to expedite actions in the recovery and rescue operation. How could this happen to us ? We are not talking of a community, but a family. They are from the same father and mother. We are pleading with any person, organisations that can help in any way to come to our rescue.”
A trader, Festus, told Daily Sun that outside from Classic family members, unspecified number of traders are still trapped in the building,” I know that many may have died ,but I am sure that if the State Government should call for assistance, some organisations, like Julius Berger, will come with excavators and other equipment. The recovery and rescue operation is too slow, because there is only one excavator on ground. I don’t know why they are using only one excavator when we are talking of human lives . Only one excavator has been working since the incident occurred.
” We have been running up and down to see if we can get excavator,but to no avail. We mobilised yesterday (Saturday), to see what we could do with our hands, but we were prevented from coming close to the place as they said that they were doing Eyo festival,so there was no rescue work yesterday. With the way the emergency responders are working, many people would have died .
” I am calling on Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu, to prevail on organisations like Julius Berger to come to our rescue . Many bodies, including charred ones have been evacuated from the rubbles.”
A trader, Mike Ekezie, told Daily Sun that he lost goods worth over N 11 million, “well, I am alive. I will recover soon, but what of Obum,who just returned from China? He died in the rubbles. His body has been brought out from the rubbles . What about three brothers, the Classics, who are stil trapped.There are many deaths recorded. When the incident happened, we didn’t know that there were casualties. It happened when most of us had gone home in preparation for Christmas vigil , but some people stayed back because of the seasons. There are some apprentice ,who were asked to do some packing, they are all trapped. Intact, after recovering operation, we would have lost over 20 people. I am surprised the way and manner the government is handling this matter. The work is so slow that it will take many more days before the recovery operation will be concluded. The government should expedite actions in the rescue operation. People have been trapped since five days.”
Mrs. Gloria Obi, said Anambra State is already mourning because majority of the people affected by the inferno are from the state,” we have lost many of our illustrious businessmen and billions of money . The devil has attacked us and taken away our joy this Christmas season. Majority of us ,who were about traveling home for the New year can’t travel again because our brothers and associates are trapped in the building .”
Blessing Maduka,on her own said the rescue operation is discouraging, as the government agencies have no adequate tools to work,” Insted of seeking help from big companies, they are using one excavator to work. How do they want victims to survive. Someone who has been under the rubbles for five days won’t survive. If there were enough equipment to work, many people would have survived, but because of delay in operation, many victims have died.”
Permanent secretary, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, said the total number of bodies recovered so far from the rubbles by the agency’s response team stood at three.
The fire started on the fourth floor on Wednesday and spread to the sixth floor of the 25-storey building before engulfing the remaining floors and adjoining structures.
A detached section of the plaza, however, collapsed during the inferno, thereby, trapping some traders and market assistants.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, in a statement by its spokesperson, Nosa Okunbor, confirmed the development on Saturday,saying that the bodies recovered from the scene include:an adult female, extricated from the collapsed structure, a decapitated man with severed limbs and an adult male ,extricated with body intact.
As at the time of filing this report, over seven bodies have been recovered since lat Thursday while emergency responders, including the police were still working hard to either recover dead bodies of rescue victims.
