the collapse of a building in Lagos has left at least 36 dead and 9 survivors, according to a latest report

So far, 36 people have been killed in the collapse of a 21-story building on Monday in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital, rescue services said Thursday (November 4th). The latter are continuing their search operations.

“So far 36 people – 33 men and 3 women – have been removed from the rubble and there are nine survivors.”, Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, director general of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (Lasema), told AFP.

The building under construction in the upscale neighborhood of Ikoyi collapsed Monday afternoon under undetermined circumstances, while dozens of workers were on the site. Families and relatives of the victims continued to wait for news near the site, three days after the disaster, while heavy equipment was deployed to participate in the clearance operations.

On Wednesday, the rescue services had established a death toll of 22. Several corpses were discovered during the night, rescuers said. The National Emergency Management Agency (Nema) confirmed the new death toll of 36 dead and 9 survivors, by texting AFP from one of its officials, Ibrahim Farinloye. An investigation has been opened to determine the causes of the collapse of the building, reduced to a huge pile of rubble.