Tragedy in Ilorin: Four Family Members Die, Four Rescued in Multi-Storey Building Collapse

​ILORIN — Grief has engulfed the Popo Giwa community in Ilorin, Kwara State, following the tragic collapse of a three-storey building in the early hours of Tuesday, September 1, which claimed the lives of four members of a single family.

​The disaster struck at approximately 5:00 a.m. at No. 41 Popo Giwa Street, situated beside the Gogoro Mosque. According to emergency responders, the collapse plunged eight members of the household into a heavy bed of concrete and twisted iron.

​A combined, intensive rescue operation involving the Kwara State Fire Service, the Federal Fire Service, the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and local volunteers raced against time to pull survivors from the debris. Authorities confirmed that while four individuals succumbed to the catastrophe, four others were pulled out alive and rushed to medical facilities for urgent treatment.

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​Eyewitness accounts from the neighborhood revealed that the patriarch of the affected family was a serving military personnel, while his wife earned a living as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS) in Ilorin. Among those who cheated death was a young child identified as Firdaus, reported to be the second-to-last born of the family, who was extracted alive as rescue workers combed through the wreckage.

​Clarifying details surrounding the structural failure, the Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Ojo Adekimi—representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene—noted that the specific segment that gave way was the boys’ quarters attached to the main structure. He assured the public that the broader situation had been brought under control while remaining structures undergo strict safety evaluations.

​The Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan, alongside other state functionaries including the Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, monitored the operation. Officials credited the swift partial success of the rescue mission to the accessibility of the area’s access roads, which allowed multiple ambulances to evacuate victims without heavy delay.

​As investigations commence to uncover the root cause of the structural failure, local authorities have intensified calls for property owners and developers across the state to strictly adhere to building codes and promptly report visible structural defects before disaster strikes.