Woman Dies, 3 Kids Rescued As Fire Razed Building In Ketu

CYRIACUS IZUEKWE

Thursday 9 February has been described as a ‘Black Day’ in Lagos as the residents mourned the death of three persons shot dead and one abducted by kidnappers, another tragedy struck.

The latest was the fire incident that razed a story building at 7 Jemigbon Street, Apollo Estate, off Elebiju, Ketu, Lagos. The inferno left a woman dead, many suffered several injuries with properties destroyed and three kids were rescued by the officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency LASEMA Response Unit who arrived the scene early enough.

Meanwhile, the corpse of the woman, identified as a staff of the National Open University of Nigeria,  has been deposited at the mortuary.
In a message by the LASEMA Response Unit, the agency said it received a distress alert via the emergency toll free number 767/112 in the early morning and responded by immediate activation of the Agency’s Emergency Response Team including the LRU Fire Unit and the Lagos State Fire Service to the scene of the incident, and prevented the spread of the inferno to other buildings in the estate.
In its preliminary investigation conducted by the Agency’s ERT at the scene of the incident, it was revealed that a duplex which was converted to flats (5 mini flat- a two-bedroom flat, a four-bedroom flat) was gutted by fire as a result of power surge from one of the mini flats on the first floor of the building, which then escalated to other flats in the building.
Further investigation revealed that inferno which engulfed the entire building got the adult female entrapped and severely burnt.
The body was recovered by the Agency’ ERT, handed over to The State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit SEHMU and has since been deposited at the Lagos Mainland General Hospital Mortuary.
The General Manager, LASEMA, Adesina Tiamiyu sympathized with the family of the deceased, but however emphasized the incorporation of safety equipment into the building.
He also advised that there should be provisions of more than one emergency exit route and installation of surge protectors and fire alarm systems to avoid unnecessary loss of lives and properties to fire incident.