60-year-old man dies, three injured in Lagos fire incident

A 60-year-old man lost his life in a midnight fire incident that occurred yesterday at an apartment located at 13 Olowokere Street in the Oshodi area of Lagos State.

Head of Public Education, Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Amodu Shakiru, who confirmed the incident, said three people sustained injuries and are already receiving medical treatment.

The Guardian learnt that about 20 people were rendered homeless after the inferno, which began around 2:00 a.m., from one of the rooms and raged through all corners of the building, turning property to ashes.

It took the combined efforts of firefighters and occupants of the nearby building to extinguish the blaze. The owner of the building, Remi Animashaun, couldn’t ascertain the cause of the fire but suspected that an electric cooker used by one of the tenants might have caused it. The 83-year-old said: “There is a room in front of mine. I suspected that their hot plates, which they didn’t turn off, were responsible for this havoc. But they denied it. I don’t know what happened. When the incident happened, I wasn’t fast asleep. I would have been burnt, but I managed to escape through my window, sustaining injuries in my leg.”

She denied fatalities, noting that everyone quickly scampered for safety when the incident happened. One of the victims, who craved anonymity, lamented: “The clothes that I am putting on were given to me by some neighbours. I lost everything in the fire.”