Ikoyi Building Collapse: Sanwo-Olu Approves Identification Of 38 Recovered Bodies

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has announced that the dead bodies recovered from the Ikoyi collapsed building are ready for identification by their families at the Mainland Hospital, Yaba, otherwise known as Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH).

KanyiDaily had reported how a 21-storey building developed by Femi Osibona, which was under construction, collapsed at Gerald street in Ikoyi on Monday afternoon, November 1.

In a statement on Friday by the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, the governor said the bodies of the deceased would be ready for identification from 4 pm on Friday at the IDH, Yaba.

Omotoso said an autopsy would be carried out on the corpses before releasing them to their families because the law says that whenever there is death due to incidents like the collapsed building, an autopsy must be done before the body is released.

He said 38 bodies have been recovered so far from the collapsed building as rescue operation entered Day Four on Friday, while family members had submitted 32 names of those still missing.

The Commissioner also debunked reports that the rescue operation team at the collapsed building stopped the search and rescue work on Thursday.

He said work was still ongoing and would continue until the government could account for everybody inside the building at time of collapse and certify that nobody is left behind in the collapsed building.

He said: “So far now, we have recorded 38 dead bodies. And as you know, we have nine survivors. Some bodies are ready for identification. So, people can go to IDH, Yaba as from 4pm to identify the bodies of their loved ones.

“For bodies that may be very difficult to identify, we are going to be conducting DNA tests for such bodies to be identified. There are rules for giving bodies to people.

“There are some of the bodies that are in a state that it would be unprofessional for the hospitals to allow people to look at them in that present state and for them to be released the way they are. That is why we have the little delay that we are having. But if you go to IDH, Yaba from 4pm, you should be able to see some of the bodies and be able to identify who you want to identify.

“Yesterday, Mr. Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu said one of the patients at the General Hospital was taken to LASUTH for a test and all that. The patient has been brought back to the hospital and he is said to be doing well. And all the patients who were there are doing well.”

The multi-sectoral search and rescue operation was ongoing at press time and the effort is being led by teams of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), with the support of construction giants, Julius Berger, Craneburg, HiTech and China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC).

KanyiDaily recalls that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had on Wednesday released the names of those who have so far been rescued from the collapsed Ikoyi building.