Death toll in Nigeria high-rise collapse increases to 42, with 15 known survivors

Total number of people who had been working on the Lagos site is unknown; 49 families have filed a missing-person report

Cause of disaster not established but such tragedies common in Africa’s most populated country, with construction standards often ignored

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A man standing in the rubble of a 21-storey building under construction that collapsed in Lagos on November 1. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:18pm, 7 Nov 2021Updated: 7:18pm, 7 Nov 2021

The death toll in a high-rise collapse in Nigeria’s Lagos has risen to 42 while the number of survivors increased to 15, state authorities have announced.

The cause of the November 1 disaster is still unknown but building collapses are common in Africa’s most populous country, where millions live in dilapidated properties and construction standards are routinely ignored.

“We have a total of 42 bodies that have been recovered,” Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said on Saturday.

The 21-storey building under construction in the upscale Ikoyi district crumbled on Monday afternoon, trapping dozens of people working on the site.

People look at the rubble of a high-rise Lagos building which was under construction when it collapsed. Photo: AFP

As of Friday, the authorities had said that nine people had survived. Some of them were rescued alive, while others on the ground floor managed to escape unharmed.

Over the weekend, the number of survivors increased to 15 after six additional people who escaped the collapse were identified.