Balogun Market Lagos Island fire: Burning building collapses, kills policeman

 

BY OUR EDITOR

One of the buildings, a six-storey structure gutted by fire on Tuesday in Lagos Island has collapsed, killing a policeman at the scene.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the building located at 43 Martins Street, Lagos Island, collapsed around 8:30pm as firemen continued spirited efforts at extinguishing the inferno which started early hours of the day.

Part of the burning building collapsed on the policeman, severely injuring him as he tried to control the surging crowd.

Confirming the death, Mr Olanrewaju Elegushi, Special Adviser to Gov Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Lagos Central Business District, told NAN that the policeman died in hospital following injuries sustained in the building collapse.

Goods and property worth millions of naira were destroyed as fire razed the popular Balogun Market on Lagos Island, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.

There was weeping and wailing as the fire blazed and thick smoke rose into the sky. Officials of the Lagos State Fire Service, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), battled to prevail the raging inferno.

Huge crowd thronged the area, obstructing fire service officials and other agencies from smoothly carrying out their duties effectively.

Helpless traders watch in awe as their investments go up in flames.

The fire, according to a witness account, started from a three-storey building of lock-up shops in the market.

“It is a situation which presented peculiar difficulties to responders to access the source of the fire in order to effectively put it out on time. Despite obstacles of inaccessibility via roads and set-backs, as all the affected buildings are continuously built together in a conjoined manner, the combined efforts of LASEMA Response Team, Lagos State Fire Service, UBA Fire Service and Federal Fire Service are on ground with the DG/CEO LASEMA, Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, mustering and marshalling all necessary equipment and manpower in battling the raging fire,” Nosa Okunbor, spokesman of Lagos State Emergency Agency (LASEMA) said.

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