Lagos: Drainage worker trapped in underground yet to be found

Search operations for a yet-to-be-identified drainage worker trapped in an underground tunnel in the Onipanu area of Lagos State continued on Tuesday, May 7, 2024.

The worker got trapped in the tunnel on Monday while the victim was trying to dislodge and evacuate debris from the underground drainage in the community.

According to a statement by the Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Emergency Management Authority, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, the trapped worker who works for Drain Ducks was employed by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority.

Checks by PUNCH Online on Tuesday, however, revealed that the missing worker had yet to be found having spent over 24 hours in the tunnel.

A member of staff of LASEMA who spoke to pressmen on the condition of anonymity revealed that the water that stockpiled in the drainage may have swept the victim away the moment he removed the blockade.

According to the source, “The drainage is interconnected via Oshodi, Onipanu, Yaba, Shomolu, Mushin and other areas. The water that gets drained from the surface flows through the underground and it was at the Onipanu end of the drainage the worker discovered debris blocking the drainage. So he entered the manhole and tried to remove the blockade unknown to him that water had stockpiled on the other end.

“As soon he removed it, the water gushed and swept him away. In the picture, you would see a man with a rope tied to him. He went into the drainage in search of the worker. He spent close to 30 minutes before the rope was used to pull him out. He took time to rest and went in again and spent 40 minutes. The operation was suspended when it was getting dark.”

“There was no time to start searching for the schematic diagram than to move to work on how to either rescue the victim alive or recover his corpse,” the official added.

However, LASEMA officials accounted that those who saw the man said he had been working there until about 2 pm when they heard him shouting and quickly called the attention of emergency responders.