At least 10 dead in a fire in an office building in Lagos

At least ten people were killed and 25 others were injured after a fire broke out in a high-building building in Lagos, Nigeria’s trade capital.

Social media videos on Tuesday have shown that the residents of the seven -storey Afranda Towers pop up from the third and fourth floors when the fire began.

The victims were trading workers trapped in the building that hosted most of the city’s commercial companies and organizations.

Most of the survivors suffered burns and fracture injuries as they tried to escape while others had respiratory suffering from smoke inhalation.

Authorities say the inhabitants were disoriented due to the rapid spread of smoke and the lack of clear evacuation directions, and the desperate inhabitants broke the windows to jump, leading to severe trauma.

Chukwuemeka Eze, a merchant who witnessed the incident, told the BBC: “It was scary, some jumped from there, many people inside were so scared to jump down that we had a wooden ladder to help them.”

In a statement, the Emergency Management Agency in Lagos (Lasema) said the fire, which lasted for hours, began in the basement of the building where electrical equipment was installed.

The agency said it suspected that the cause was poor maintenance and inadequate ventilation in the inverter battery area, causing overheating and burning.

The statement added “there was a lack of mechanical systems for smoke extraction, this allowed the smoke to migrate the unspecified. Public address systems do not function and there were insufficient signs, this worsened confusion.”

“The building was designed with sealed windows. The management of the facility and the buildings also inhaled smoke and diverted during the incident, leaving no leader of incidents or a safety superintendent,” the statement added.

Lazema said he had extinguished the fire in a few hours, but thick, black smoke travels all over the building.

Nigeria President Bola Tinubu described the incident as an unfortunate and commissioner with families of the deceased victims.

The Federal Fire Service in Nigeria said an investigation was launched to identify the causes of the incident, including the state of safety systems, maintenance practices and compliance with fire safety rules. The findings will be publicly announced and all recommendations will be implemented, the service adds.