Four members of a family have died after a three-storey building collapsed in the Popo Giwa area of Ilorin, Kwara State.
The incident occurred around 5 am on Tuesday at No. 41 Popo Giwa Street, near Gogoro Mosque, with eight members of the family reportedly trapped beneath the debris.
Four others were rescued alive following a coordinated operation by emergency and security agencies.
An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, said the father of the family is a serving soldier, while the mother works as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies in Ilorin.
Rescue efforts continued for several hours, with an excavator deployed to clear the rubble and provide rescuers access to those trapped inside the building.
The Kwara State Fire Service later confirmed that four people died while four others survived the collapse.
The agency’s Public Relations Officer, Hassan Adekunle, said the service received an emergency call at about 5am and immediately mobilised personnel to the scene.
“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” Adekunle said.
He explained that the rescue operation required the involvement of several agencies, including the Hospitals Management Board, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and other emergency responders.
Adekunle said authorities were still assessing the structure to determine what caused the collapse.
“We are only here to ascertain the actual cause of this collapse and rescue the trapped victims. As at when due, we will communicate to the media about our findings,” he stated.
The Secretary of the Kwara State Emergency Management Agency, Magaji Saadudeen, also confirmed the casualty figures, saying eight people had been trapped in the building.
“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said, adding that both the survivors and the bodies of the deceased had been taken to hospital.
The Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Ojo Adekimi, said the collapsed portion was the boys’ quarters of the three-storey building.
“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarter of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.
Adekimi said all occupants had been evacuated from the main building while officials examined the remaining structure to determine whether it posed further danger.
“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building,” he said.
Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate.
He said the availability of an access road helped emergency responders reach the scene and carry out the rescue operation.
“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” Olohungbebe said.
He urged property owners and developers to comply with building regulations and ensure that residential areas have adequate access for emergency services.
The chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan, said several ambulances were deployed to evacuate the victims.
He advised residents to take immediate action whenever they noticed signs of structural weakness.
“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” Ladan said.
He also urged developers to use quality construction materials and employ qualified professionals to supervise building projects.
The cause of the collapse has not been established, as authorities said investigations and structural assessments were ongoing.
