Lamentations as fires razes 109 shops, apartments in Lagos

IT was wailing galore for residents of Ijora area of Lagos State as over 109 shops and residential apartments were razed by fire.

Also, no fewer than seven persons reportedly sustained varying degrees of injuries in the incident which occurred on Sunday night and which was said to have started from one of the shops at the 7UP area of Ijora.

Unconfirmed reports had it that the shop where the fire started from had black oil stored in it.
Confirming the incident to the media, the South-West Zonal spokesman of the National Emergency Maintenance Agency (NEMA), Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, said the affected buildings belonged to the Bayelsa State government.

“About 109 shops and residential buildings were consumed in the fire outbreak at the scene, located in open space belonging to the Bayelsa State government beside the 7UP Bottling Company, Ijora," he said.

“One person who sustained serious burns was rescued and taken to the hospital. The fire started from a shop filled with drums of black oil. People are also using the space as residence,” he added.

Ijora is not new to such disasters, as it will be recalled that just four months ago, two people were reportedly burnt to death in an early morning fire that ravaged about 10 buildings, including a brothel in Ijora.

The inferno, which occurred on Jan 15, also destroyed millions of naira worth of property.
Several people, mostly sex workers and their customers were also injured during the attempts by occupants to escape from the fierce fire in the brothel.
Source:Tribune