A seven-story unfinished building fell in Lagos, the commercial city of Nigeria, on Sunday, killing at least two people and trapping others, according to rescue officials.
In Africa’s most populous country, where many people live in deteriorating buildings and construction safety norms are frequently disregarded, building collapses are prevalent.
According to images made available by rescue workers, the seven-story building in a commercial neighborhood of Lagos fell, leaving the structure nearly totally flat.
Ibrahim Farinloye of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said on Sunday that two bodies had been pulled from the rubble.
Operation were still being carried out, according to local rescue officials, who suspected at least four more persons were trapped within. The collapse had no explanation offered.
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Since November of last year, when a high-rise building being built in Lagos’ Ikoyi neighborhood fell, killing at least 45 people, safety standards enforcement and the use of subpar materials have come under increased scrutiny.
A three-story structure collapsed in Lagos’ Ebute-Metta neighborhood in May of this year, killing ten people.
A church collapsed in southern Delta state in January, killing three people—two of them children—and saving another 18 people.
Building collapses are becoming “increasingly humiliating,” according to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who has urged for higher construction standards.