The corpses of the Managing Director, Fourscore Heights Limited, Mr Femi Osibona, and his friend, a United States of America-based Nigerian businessman, Wale Bob-Oseni, have been recovered from the 21-storey building that collapsed on Gerrard Road in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State.
PUNCH Metro learnt that their bodies were found on Thursday by responders during the recovery operation at the scene of the incident.
Bob-Oseni, a real-estate dealer, was on his way back to the US on Monday when he got a call from Osibona to check out the project.
Both friends were subsequently trapped when the building collapsed.
Our correspondents had reported that the 21-storey building crumbled on Monday around 2pm when Osibona, who owned the project, his clients and workers were on the site.
One of our reporters, who was at the scene on Thursday, reported that no fewer than 40 corpses had so far been recovered from the site. However, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, around 1pm said 32 bodies were recovered.
Families lament delay in identifying corpses
Some relatives of the victims lamented the postponement of the identification of corpses recovered by emergency workers.
They recalled that Sanwo-Olu said autopsies were being conducted on the corpses but families would be able to identify their loved ones from Thursday.
The bereaved families said when they visited the Mainland Hospital mortuary, Yaba, on Thursday, they were denied access to the bodies.
The father of an 18-year-old boy, Edward Godwin, while in tears, said he was not allowed to identify his son’s body despite the governor’s assurance.
He said, “I honestly needed to see my son yesterday (Wednesday). I’ve been to the general hospital to check those injured, but my son was not there. I thought I would be able to see him today, but I’ve not been able to see my son.”
A woman, who did not identify herself, said she had been to the state morgue as well but was not allowed to identify her sister’s son…
