Three persons have died while five others were rescued after a two-storey commercial building under construction collapsed in Owode-Ede, Ede North Local Government Area of Osun State.
The incident occurred at Zone 8, Oke Alaafia Community, at about 11pm on Friday, triggering a rescue operation involving emergency responders.
The spokesperson for the Federal Fire Service, Osun State Command, DSF Ojo Omoyemi Olamide, disclosed this in a statement, saying the command received a distress call through its emergency line at about 11:30pm and immediately deployed personnel to the scene.
She said the five rescued victims were taken to Idera Specialist Hospital, Ede, for medical attention, while the bodies of the three deceased persons were handed over to the police at A Division, Ede.
According to her, the collapsed structure was a two-storey shopping complex comprising six shops on each of the upper and middle floors and two stores on the ground floor.
Olamide said preliminary investigations suggested that structural defects and the use of substandard materials might have contributed to the collapse.
She added that the rescue operation was concluded at about 9:26am on Saturday, after which personnel returned to their station.
The fire service spokesperson put the estimated value of the property lost at ₦100m, while property worth about ₦150m was reportedly saved.
The rescue operation involved personnel of the Osun State Fire Service, Ede Station; the Nigeria Police Force, A Division, Ede; and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Owode-Ede Division.