One dead, others injured as elevator crashes in Ibadan’s tallest building, Cocoa House

One person died and three others were injured at Cocoa House, Ibadan on Wednesday following the crash of an elevator in the building.

According to a statement signed by the Head of Corporate Affairs, Oodua Investment Company, Ltd (OICL),  Mr Victor Ayetoro, “At around 11am this morning, the lift installation team from our contractor handling the lift and who were working on dismantling the old lift in readiness for a new lift instalment, 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.”

Cocoa House, which is the tallest building in Ibadan is the first skyscraper in Nigeria and West Africa with 26 storeys and it was completed in 1965 at a height of 105 metres.