Panic gripped residents of Oremeta Street in Ojodu-Beger area of Lagos State on Saturday following the dramatic collapse of a three-storey building reportedly housing an eatery.

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) confirmed that the structure, already aged and weakened, had undergone unapproved additional construction work before suddenly giving away.

“It was an old eatery. Additional construction had been carried out on it before the structure finally collapsed”, said Dr. Olufemi Damilola Oke -Osanyintolu, the Permanent Secretary of LASEMA.

He said five adult women were pulled alive from the rubble and given immediate pre-hospital care by emergency medics on the scene.

First responders, including LASEMA, Fire Service and other emergency teams, continue to comb through the debris in an intense search-and-rescue operation, hoping to find more survivors – or recover the remains of possible victims.

The cause of the collapsed building is suspected to be structural weakness exacerbated by illegal extension.