The General Manager and Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Olufemi Osanyintolu, has said that the rescue mission conducted during the Associated Airline plane crash on Thursday was far better than the one conducted at the preceding air crashes involving other airlines.
While speaking on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, Mr Osanyintolu said although several people involved in the operation complained that the crowd that gathered at the scene interfered with their jobs, Mr Osanyintolu stated that the “crowd was well controlled” because “despite the fact that there was a national strike going on, involving doctors, all the specialists involved in managing emergencies in the state were on ground”
“The emergency services of the state were well coordinated” he added.
He stressed that effective crowd control enabled them to transport the survivors to the hospitals in good time.
They evaluated the entire activity favourably but said that the only source of discord was the rancor over which agency should take charge of the casket retrieved from the wreckage.
The relation and communication line between all the agencies involved in the rescue mission was good until the moment Olusegun Agagu’s casket, containing the late governor’s corpse, was retrieved.
“There was a sort of rancor because of the family issue and we had to hand it over to the Nigeria Air Force ambulance,” he said.
He confirmed that there are indeed seven survivors “receiving adequate medical care, free of charge”
The corpses have also been taken to the morgue.
The agency’s emergency centre is set up at LASUTH hence concerned families can retrieve the remains of their loved ones by going to the agency’s centre, set up in front of the morgue at the Lagos State Teaching Hospital, LASUTH. They would be required to present means of identification and evidence.
The Lagos state government has plans to put infrastructure needed for emergency situations such as water hydrants, in place, Osanyintolu revealed.
“Fire services, the ministry of home affairs and the ministry of housing in conjunction with the water corporation are planning to build fire hydrants in strategic locations, all over the state.
