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An operative of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Adeshola Kabir, said on Thursday that operatives of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency did not have enough ambulances for the rescue operation at Synagogue Church of All Nations on September 12, 2014.
A six-storey building belonging to the church collapsed on September 12, 2014, killing no fewer than 116 persons and leaving many people injured.
Kabir, who said he arrived the church in the Ikotun area of Lagos at about 1.30pm on the day of the incident, said the shortage of ambulance for the rescue operation forced the emergency responders to create an area where the victims were first laid on the ground before being subsequently taken to the hospital one after the other based on the severity of their injuries.
The NSCDC operative said this on Thursday when he appeared as a witness before Justice Lateet Lawal-Akapo, where the Registered Trustees of SCOAN and the two engineers who built the collapsed building, Messrs Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun, were being prosecuted.
The Lagos State Government filed one count of building without approval against the church and 110 counts of involuntary manslaughter against the two engineers and their companies, Hardrock Construction and Engineering Company and Jandy Trust Limited.
The defendants were arraigned in April but they pleaded not guilty.
Kabir was the fourth witness to be called by the state to prove the case.
