* It was caused by bulldozer working on street drain – witnesses
The Lagos Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) says five persons have been rescued, and one dead body recovered from a collapsed mosque at Papa Ajao, Mushin, on Sunday.
Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, Permanent Secretary of LASEMA made this known in a statement in Lagos.
Mr Oke-Osanyintolu said the mosque on Yusuf Street, off Ladipo Road, Papa Ajao, collapsed while prayer was ongoing.
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The permanent secretary said that search and rescue operations were taking place under his supervision.
Witnesses told Muslim News that two lifeless bodies were recovered from the rubble but the permanent secretary, however, said only one person died as at the time of filing this report on Sunday, May 26.
Mr Oke-Osanyintolu listed emergency responders at the scene to include the LASEMA Response Team, the police, the Lagos State Ambulance Service and the Lagos State Fire Service.
Meanwhile, Newstrends reported that a bulldozer working on a reconstruction of a street drain was responsible for the collapsed mosque.
Some of the residents in conjunction with rescue teams from the state were feverishly still working as of 5pm Sunday to bring out some of those trapped under the rubble.
An elder and resident of Yusuf Street who identified himself simply as Mr Adeyinka told Newstrends that some worshippers were still in the mosque, including Islamic school pupils after the afternoon prayer when the bulldozer man digging the trench for the drain hit the building ground.
He said, “The mosque was too close to the expanded drain; it’s obviously too large. The drain was being expanded on Yusuf Street towards Ladipo Market Road.
“As the man was working in front of the mosque, I think the claw of the bulldozer had been hitting the edge of the foundation and the last strike brought the entire mosque down.
“It was after dhur salat (afternoon prayer) and many of the worshippers had just left the mosque, with a few people left and students of the Madrasat (Islamic school) on the upper floor.”
Another resident, Taiye Oseni, said, “Some of those trapped were brought out lifeless; many were injured and promptly rushed to nearby hospitals.
“The digging was too close to the mosque. They should have asked everyone to leave the building when the work reached the spot if they knew they won’t leave any space at all for the structure to rest on.”
