No fewer than nine women were reportedly trapped when a storey building sunk due to movement of underground material and torrential rainfall, around Akinwunmi Street, Mende, in the Maryland area of Lagos State.

Ibrahim Farinloye, the Lagos Territorial Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), confirmed the incident in a statement. He said the agency received a distressed alert about a sinking where nine people were trapped.

The statement read, “NEMA received a distressed alert on a sinking storey building where nine people are said to be trapped. The building is located at 47 Akinwunmi street, Akinwunmi North Estate, Mende, Maryland, Ikeja.

“The torrential rainfall, which lasted for about four hours in the early hours of the day, flooded lots of communities in Lagos State. NEMA advance team upon close observations called for more reinforcement of personnel.

One of the trapped victims, identified as Blessing, said they were up to nine people, mostly women, who were trapped when the building started sinking after being submerged.

Adding that, “the landlord of the building had used a ladder to escape, but NEMA questioned him for failure to contact emergency responders, but someone from one of the trapped victim’s offices contacted NEMA.”