Ikoyi Building Collapse: Death Toll Rises to 22

Some corps members were among those trapped in the collapsed 21-storey building in Ikoyi, Lagos, Daily Trust can report.

The building collapsed on Monday.

Two more bodies were recovered on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 22.

The corps members, said to be serving at the company, Fourscore Heights Limited, were trapped alongside the owner and developer, Mr Femi Osibona.

An eyewitness, who sells food around the area, said one of the corps members who came to buy food from her escaped by a whisker.

“All the other corps members were trapped. I can’t really ascertain their number, but they are more than two,” she said.

A source at the NYSC said six corps members were serving at the company, but only one of them, identified as Zainab Sanni Oyindamola, who was of the 2021 Batch B, died.

Zainab was said to be originally deployed to Maiduguri but was redeployed to Lagos after the three-week orientation.

Her friends and colleagues mourned her on Facebook on Wednesday.

One Agboola Yusuf Olatunji, who posted the late corps member’s pictures, said, “She was among the victims of the 21-storey building collapse at Ikoyi, but we lost her… Sanni Zainab Oyindamola Ayinke. We love you, but Almighty Allah loves you more.”

One of her relatives said she resumed work at the company about three weeks ago.

She said: “She has been coming here since then. We don’t even know why they sent her here.

“She was originally posted to Borno, but her mother redeployed her.

“If we had known, we’d have allowed her to continue her youth service in that state. She is the first daughter of her mother and they are just two.”

This is just as more victims’ relatives thronged the scene, crying.

Another victim was Mr Wale Bob-Oseni, a friend of the developer, who was scheduled to travel to America the day the incident happened.

It was learnt that the developer invited him from the airport to come and see the project before returning to the US only to be trapped when the incident happened.

His brother, Nurudeen Oseni, toldDaily Trustthat there was no doubt that the owner was trapped in the building.

Among the victims were dozens of artisans who came with an engineer believed to be a Pastor from Ibafo.