Lagos Reveals Cause Of Afriland Towers Fire Deaths As Tinubu, Sanwo-Olu, Obasa Mourn

Lagos State authorities has revealed the causes of an inferno which killed galore radical astatine a six-story commercialized gathering connected Broad Street, Afriland Towers.

The incident, according to the authorities government, was caused by a spark connected the inverter batteries, powering the airy to the operation located successful the basement of the building.

The director-general and main enforcement serviceman (CEO), Lagos State Safety Commission, Mr. Lanre Mojola, flanked by the state’s commissioner for Information and Strategy, the director-general, Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye, and the director, Lagos State Ambulance Service, LASAMBUS, Wuraola Makinde, astatine a property league yesterday, said the authorities authorities agencies’ swift moves averted much casualties.

Both Mojola and Adeseye besides attributed the origin of the decease recorded to the fume inhaled by the victims astatine the country of the incident.

Mojola said the fume from the root of the occurrence dispersed rapidly to each the floors.

He dispelled insinuations that the rescue squad arrived precocious astatine the scenes, adding that exigency responders responded rapidly connected receiving a distress call.

“At 1:30pm, we received a distress telephone and rapidly mobilised. On the crushed were LASAMBUS, LASEMA and the Safety Commission. The manager of occurrence went consecutive to the gathering to ascertain wherever the occurrence was coming from and discovered it was from the basement of the high-rise building. It was recovered that the inverter batteries successful the basement caused it. The fume from the occurrence rapidly dispersed done the basement and went up crossed each the floors,” Mojola said.

The DG added that the operation had capable occurrence rescue equipment, exit points and alarm system, noting that the alarm was moving astatine the clip of the incident.

“People panicked, anxious to get retired of the gathering portion inhaling the smoke, which resulted successful casualties. No 1 died from wounded from the fire, “he said.
He called connected owners of high-rise buildings successful the authorities to proceed to use for certification of their buildings from the authorities authorities and assured them of the government’s resoluteness to support the people’s lives.

Corroborating Mojola, the Director-General of Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye, said officers of the work arrived astatine the country 20 minutes aft they received a distress call.

“The effect was timely. We received a telephone astatine 1:38 p.m. and arrived astatine the country astatine 1:56 p.m. We recovered retired sympathisers were trying to assistance the victims successful escaping the building. We rapidly tried to rescue the occupants. Our preliminary probe besides revealed that the origin of the occurrence was the inverter successful the basement. There were 3 exits, fume detectors, and a hose.

The alarm was ringing, and the victims were truthful anxious to get retired that immoderate were trying to unit their mode out. They could person escaped done the exits; astir apt immoderate were waiting for radical to travel and rescue them. The victims died from fume from the incident,” she said.

Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly Mudashiru Obasa had, successful abstracted letters, expressed their condolences to household members, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and United Bank for Africa (UBA) implicit the occurrence tragedies.