A building at Ile-Ile bus-stop, Ketu, Lagos State went up in flames yesterday evening. The fire started at about 5:00 p.m. at No. 12, Ajayi Street, off Alhaji Lawal Street, Ile-Ile, in Agboyi–Ketu Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos.
The cause of the fire could not be ascertained as of the time of filing this report though it was gathered that two children were initially trapped in the two-storey building before they were rescued by residents and emergency responders and evacuated to the hospital for treatment.
According to residents, the caused of the fire is a result of a gas cylinder that exploded. The rescued victims sustained some injuries from the explosion.
One of the trapped child speaking after he had been rescued said when he returned from school, he was hungry and decided to prepare food for himself and his junior one when the gas exploded.
Men of the Lagos State fire service immediately mobilized to the scene and the fire was put off moments later though the topmost flat of the building had already been razed. “Property worth millions of Naira was allegedly destroyed by the fire,” the landlord said.
Meanwhile, an expectant mother, two firefighters and 14 others sustained injuries at the Balogun Market fire incident that broke out Wednesday morning, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) has said. Fifteen of the victims were treated on the spot and discharged while two including a fireman, who had head injury, were hospitalised, said Director-General of the agency, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu.
According to him, the pregnant woman’s injury was shock-induced, adding that she was also hospitalised. The LASEMA boss said the demolition team as of Wednesday night brought four of the collapsed buildings to ground zero, assuring that others around would be subjected to integrity test.
However, an eight-storey building at Oluwole, Balogun that was beside Wednesday’s twin-collapsed structures partially caved in Thursday evening. The building, which showed visible crack marks on Wednesday evening and had smoke coming from its roof collapsed while firefighters were battling to contain another outbreak at Sunny Adewale.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Central Business District (CBD), Gbenga Oyerinde, decried the traders’ stubbornness, wondering why they keep generating sets in their shops. “Move around and you will see that some of the traders keep 45KVA generators on first and second floors.
“We have tried as much as possible to seal the place off but you will just notice that after leaving the place somebody somewhere will give them permission to do what they are doing and it is becoming difficult.
“It is not a government issue, it is all about our people having an attitude change. As we speak now, there is no heavy casualty. The four people that were taken to General Hospital yesterday, have left at the time I visited the place.”
Speaking yesterday, Director General, Lagos Safety Commission, Lanre Mojola, said the losses were not quantifiable, adding that post-incidence investigation had commenced. “The incident has happened, so we have moved into post incidence investigation. We identified the root cause of the problem almost immediately yesterday but beyond that, we have gone round and have identified the number of buildings that are on the same block that might not be safe. We are also ensuring that all the people are out of the buildings because our priority is to ensure safety of human beings.
Follow our socials Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google News.
