Lagos – Several people were feared
dead and others injured when a six storey plaza in the heart of the popular
Balogun market in Lagos was gutted by fire on Thursday.
The plaza is surrounded by several
important businesses which included the Union Bank, Diamond Bank and the United
Bank for Africa (UBA).
It was also observed that the plaza
which was being used as a wholesale and retail outlet for shoes and bags is
directly beside and attached to Union Bank building.
Investigations revealed that the
fire started at about 9:00 am and was battled by a team of combined fire
fighters from the Union Bank and UBA before the arrival of the Lagos State Fire
Service.
Some eye witnesses, who spoke said
that some people who jumped out from various floors of the burning plaza to
escape the fire were carried away dead.
Mallam Hamza Abdullahi, a trader in
the market said that he saw three dead bodies and five people who were wounded.
“People were shouting and jumping
down from up stairs, I saw a woman dead with her skull open,“ he said.
Mrs Florence Adewunmi, a staff of
the Lagos State Ambulance Mobile Intensive Care Service (LASAMBUS) stationed at
the scene said that some victims had been stabilized and transferred to
hospital.
“There are several casualties. We
got a distress call at about 10am that there was fire outbreak at Balogun
behind UBA.
“We proceeded here and learnt that
they have rushed some people to General Hospital, Lagos but we met some
casualties on ground.
“The patients jumped from the
second, third and fourth floor and had fractures and various degrees of
injuries.
“There were those that inhaled too
much smoke so we gave some oxygen, some Dyclofenac injection, we treated ankle
dislocations, we sutured deep cuts before carrying them to General Hospital,
Lagos.
“So far, we have carried six people
to hospital and discharged four after treatment,“ Adewunmi said.
One of shop owners who deals on female
shoes, Mr Nonso Christian, said that he came to the plaza at 10am and met it on
fire.
“I met the plaza on fire and I tried
to go in to bring out my goods but I couldn’t because the fire is too much.
“My shop is on the second floor and
I just re-stocked on Monday, I don’t know what to do because the second floor
is still on fire,“ he said.
Several other shop owners, who were
wailing while watching the fire declined comment, one of them simply said “we
are sad, this hard economy, where do I start from?’’
A security man attached to Union
Bank, Mr Umoru Monday told NAN that the fire started a few minutes before the
hour of 9:00 am.
“The Union Bank Fire Service came
around and started pushing the fire back so that it would not enter the bank,
and later the fire fighters from UBA came to assist them before the Lagos State
Fire Service came,“ Monday said.
An official of the Lagos State Fire
Service carrying a cylinder on his back into the burning plaza declined
comment.
He said that senior officers of the
service who could speak to press were attacking the fire on various floors.
“I cannot tell you anything, our
fire boss is up in that burning building now and our main aim is to put the
fire out. We are attacking it on various floors,“ he said.
A lone Police man battled to keep
spectators away while security men of Diamond Bank situated beside Union Bank
turned their customers away.
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