Several people have been trapped after a two-storey building collapsed in the Oyingbo area of Lagos in the early hours of Monday.
The incident occurred at 54 Cole Street, near Cemetery Bus Stop, around 12:20 a.m., according to a situation report by the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service.
Confirming the development, the agency’s Director, Margaret Adeseye, said rescue operations were ongoing at the site, with emergency teams working tirelessly to pull victims from the rubble.
“It is an ongoing rescue involving an existing two-storey building which had reportedly been marked distressed before collapsing on the occupants,” Adeseye said.
She explained that the Sari-Iganmu Fire Station team was the first to arrive at the scene after receiving a distress call shortly after midnight.
“So far, 15 persons — seven men, four women, and four children — have been rescued with varying degrees of injuries,” Adeseye stated. “They have been taken to the Federal Medical Centre, Ebute-Metta, and General Hospital, Odan, for treatment.”
Residents in the area said the building had shown visible signs of structural weakness before it caved in.
“One side of the wall had already cracked weeks ago,” said Tunde Akinola, a resident who joined in rescue efforts. “We kept warning the landlord to evacuate people, but nothing was done until it finally collapsed.”
As of the time of filing this report, search and rescue teams from the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Fire Service, and NEMA were still combing through the debris to rescue more victims.
Building collapses have remained a recurring tragedy in Lagos, often linked to poor construction practices, substandard materials, and weak regulatory enforcement.
In September 2025, a four-storey building under construction in the Yaba area collapsed, killing several workers, while the Ikoyi high-rise disaster in 2021 claimed at least 42 lives.
Adeseye reiterated the government’s commitment to enforcing safety standards and warned property owners against ignoring structural warnings.
“The government will continue to identify and take down distressed buildings to prevent avoidable deaths,” she said.
