3 more bodies recovered in Lagos Ocean surge, 12 missing
THREE more bodies have been recovered at the Kuramo Beach, Lagos, where ocean surge swept away 16 residents on Saturday, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) has reported.
General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Mr Femi Osanyintolu, who confirmed this to NAN on Sunday, said that divers and other rescuers were still searching for the remaining bodies.
Osanyintola had, on Saturday, told NAN that a body was recovered, while 15 others were missing.
The recent recovery had brought the number of bodies recovered to four, with 12 others were still missing.
The disaster occurred at about 2.00 a.m on Saturday, while residents of the beach resort were asleep.
Osanyintolu also told NAN that most of the victims were those occupying illegal shanties at the waterfront, adding that the beach had been cordoned off to forestall further loss of lives.
“We have cordoned off the entire area and have asked residents to vacate immediately. It is a serious thing, but we are on top of the situation,” he said.
As part of measures to curtail the eventuality of another high tide, the State Government has placed a temporary stand to prevent the surge from spreading to other areas while shanties occupied by residents along the waterfront have been demolished.
This measures are in line with anearlier directive by government on Saturday to the residents to vacate the area to prevent further loss of lives.
Following this tragedy, fun seekers who had planned to take advantage of the Sallah celebration to visit the Kuramo beach were disappointed as they were turned back by security personnel who had cordoned off the area from onlookers and tourists.
The state government has also refuted the rumour that the surge was caused by the multimillion-dollar Eko Atlantic City project where the state government is recovering about 9km of lost land from the ocean, with an intention to build a world class city expected to house about 250,000 residents.
State Commissioner for Waterfront, Prince Segun Oniru, had on several occasions said that the Eko Atlantic City, which was not a project unique to Lagos, would not have any negative environmental impact on the area as the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) had been duly conducted and certified okay.
