Lagos building collapse: Death toll hits 35, contractor arrested

The death toll in the Lekki Gardens building collapse has risen to 35, after rescue officials brought out the corpses four young men, whose mother was also missing.

As of 4.30pm on Wednesday when our correspondent left Lekki Horizon 1, where the incident happened, officials were still working to bring out more victims.

It was reported that many of the site workers were sleeping when the structure collapsed around 3am.

One more dead body was said to have been recovered late on Tuesday, bringing the casualties to 19.

Emergency workers recovered 15 more corpses on Wednesday, bringing the number of the dead to 34.

Although 13 people were rescued alive and transferred to a hospital on the Lagos Island on Tuesday, a source working with the Lagos State Ambulance Service said one of them died.

He said, “There were 13 people in all that we took to the hospital. But it was unfortunate that one of them died. Not many people know this.”

With the development, 35 people have so far lost their lives, while 12 were rescued alive.