A number of people yesterday were feared dead and others injured when fire gutted a six-storey plaza at the Balogun market in Lagos state.
Many shoes and clothing wholesalers were located in the plaza and it's surrounded by several important businesses which included the Union Bank, Diamond Bank and the United Bank for Africa.
The fire which started at about 9am was caused by an electric discharge 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.
Eyewitnesses say 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 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.
A staff of the Lagos State Ambulance Mobile Intensive Care Service, Mrs. Florence Adewunmi, said some victims had been stabilised and transferred to the 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
NAN
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