Eye-witnesses have recounted how a dog cared for by occupants of the collapsed building at Ebute Meta, Lagos tried to warn of the impending disaster hours before it happened.
According to them, the dog barked ceaselessly and declined the food and treat offered to it. The dog also reportedly refused to enter the building.
They further said the dog resorted to howling mournfully at some point, but its owners had no clue why it was agitated and continued with their activities.
The building came down shortly after, killing three occupants.
Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, the territorial coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency, confirmed the death toll to newsmen and also narrated witnesses’ accounts of how their dog tried to warn them.
The building collapsed on Friday morning, Dec. 22, on Herbert Macaulay Way, Ebute Meta.
Mr Farinloye said the body of a 12-year-old boy and the bodies of two adults —a male and a female— were recovered from the rubble of the two-storey building.
Farinloye added that the Lagos Building Control Agency had issued an evacuation notice several times on the building, and all the original occupants had packed out.
He added that search and rescue operations were ongoing.
