Lekki Gardens, owners of the five-story building under construction that collapsed at about 4am on Tuesday, late yesterday cleared the air on the status of the building and the rules governing the workers, even as it sympathised with the victims. The Management of Lekki Gardens in a statement issued in Lagos described the incident as unfortunate, promising to fully cooperate with relevant authorities to unravel the cause(s) of the collapse.

“The building which was under construction was meant to house a number of apartment units,” the statement said.

Continuing, it said: “Rescue work started immediately and so far 7 people have been reported dead and others injured. The exact cause of the incident is not known at this time. All of our incident response procedures have been initiated, our support services have been mobilised and relevant authorities have been advised.

“As regards the said building, investigations are being carried out to ascertain the cause of the collapse.

“In line with our usual safety standards, all sites are closed off by 6pm daily and it is mandatory that every worker leaves at that time.

“The company is cooperating with the National Emergency Management Agency, Lagos State Government, Fire Service and Lagos State Police to speed up rescue efforts. Investigation is already underway to ascertain the identities of those affected as it is not company policy for site workers to take shelter in uncompleted buildings.

“Lekki Gardens is a reputable residential property development company and has successfully completed and delivered over 6,000 units of houses across Lagos, Ogun, Rivers State and the Federal Capital territory, Abuja in the past 4 years and most of them already occupied.

“The Management and staff of Lekki Gardens sincerely sympathise with the families of those who lost their lives. The company will do all in its power to ensure that those injured are fully supported.”

•Photo shows rescue workers at the collapsed Lekki Gardens building . . . yesterday.