By Seun Aderounmu
There was panic at the Cocoa House at the Dugbe area of Ibadan on Wednesday as one of the lifts in the 25-storey building dropped during installation.
The machine reportedly crashed on the engineering team at the basement pit and the accident resulted in the death of one of them while three of them were injured.
The injured victims were reportedly taken to hospital while the corpse was taken to mortuary
The development at the Cocoa House was said to have forced many to result to using the stairs.
The Corporate Affairs Manager of Odua Investment Company Limited, Mr Victor Ayetoro, confirmed the incident in his statement and the police had been informed of the accident.
The statement read, “At around 11am this morning, the lift installation team from our contractor handling the installation of the new lift to improve efficiency of work at Odua Investment Company Limited while working on the lift suffered a mechanical failure.
“The said failure resulted in the lift car dropping and crashing into the basement pit
“Unfortunately, one of the technicians in the team did not survive the incident.
“Three other technicians suffered minor injuries and have been taken to the hospital for check up/ treatment.
“The head office of the company has been informed and their representatives have arrived to take charge of the situation while the police have also been informed.
“Our condolences to the family of the deceased and pray that God Almighty in His infinite mercy will grant repose to the lost soul and give the family the fortitude to bear the loss.”
