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| Toyin and Bukola Coker |
When Mrs Coker lost her husband a lawyer to the cold hands of death. she thought that was the worst life would give her not till Tuesday the 20th of November when the building they have been living collapsed killing Toyin and Bukola the only children she had for Mr Coker and also living her in pains and with injuries.
The building a two storey which is situated at Block M20, Jakande Estate, Church Street, Oke-Afa, Isolo, Lagos collapsed at about 12 midnight.
The building along with others within the vicinity were erected 30 years ago and were noticed to have severe cracks.
A neighbour, Kidochi Okonye, said
that when they came out at about 12. 30 a.m. and saw what happened, they
called the National Emergency Management Agency, the fire service and
the Red Cross, but none of them came. He said that Red Cross officials
eventually came by 6 a.m. when the dead sisters had been pulled out and
they carried the corpses away.The body of Mrs Coker in her unconscious state was said to be
the first to be brought out from the debris at about 3am and was
immediately rushed to the estate health centre. Bukola’s body, in her
night gown was reportedly brought out at about 5am, while that of Toyin a graduate of the University
of Lagos
was brought out an hour later, stone dead.
Another man living in the neighbourhood, Mr
Opeyemi Fagun told News Agency of Nigeria that they noticed that the building had been
sinking gradually for about a year. He said that the occupants had been
warned to evacuate the building over a year ago when the walls started
cracking.
According to him, occupants of one of the floors in the building had packed out early this year while the others remained.
“The building was already sinking,
shaking with cracked walls and they have been warned to pack out. When
we heard a huge bang and a cloud of dust, we ran out and heard screaming
from inside the rubbles; so, we went to dig the people out with our
bare hands. But our efforts were futile as the girls were already dead,” he said.
One of the occupants of the first floor
of the collapsed building, who refused to disclose her name, said that
they came in by 9 p.m. on Tuesday and saw that their decking had cracked
badly.
“My brother went upstairs to warn
the Cokers but they did not take heed to the warning and we decided not
to sleep in that building. We were seated outside when we heard a bang
and started screaming for help. It was so fast that I can’t describe it;
I wish I could have helped them, but I just could not,” she said.
It was observed that most buildings within the vicinity have structural weaknesses and signs of imminent collapse. Thus a reason why the officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency has marked eight other
structures for demolition in the area The agency also ordered all occupants of
structures near the collapsed building at the Jakande Estate, Isolo in
Lagos State to vacate their premises within 48 hour.
May their souls rset in peace and may the good lord give their mum the fortitude to bear the loss. Amen!!!
Photo Credit: Channels TV | Sahara Reporters| Bella Naija
This picture is not Toyin and Bukola coker. Only Toyin is on the left the other person was our coursemate in Unilag
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