Precious Igbonwelundu and Halima Balogun
AN expectant mother, two fire fighters and 14 others sustained injuries at the Balogun Market fire incident that broke out Wednesday morning, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) has said.
Fifteen of the victims were treated on the spot and discharged while two including a fireman who had head injury were hospitalised, said Director General of the agency Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu.
According to him, the pregnant woman’s injury was shock induced, adding that she was also hospitalised.
The LASEMA boss said the demolition team as of Wednesday night brought four of the collapsed buildings to ground zero, assuring that others around would be subjected to integrity test.
However, an eight-storey building at Oluwole, Balogun that was beside Wednesday’s twin-collapsed structures partially caved in yesterday evening.
The Nation reports that the building which showed visible crack marks on Wednesday evening and had smoke coming from its roof collapsed while fire fighters were battling to contain another outbreak at Sunny Adewale.
Our reporter at the scene observed that fire was still burning in some of the plazas around 4:30pm yesterday with shop owners making efforts to evacuate their wares.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Central Business District (CBD) Gbenga Oyerinde decried the traders’ stubbornness, wondering why they keep generators in their shops.
“Move around and you will see that some of the traders keep 45KVA generators on first and second floors.
Read Also: Balogun fire: Pregnant woman, 16 others injured, says LASEMA
“We have tried as much as possible to seal the place off but you will just notice that after leaving the place somebody somewhere will give them permission to do what they are doing and it is becoming difficult.
“It is not a government issue, it is all about our people having an attitude change. As we speak now, there is no heavy casualty. The four people that were taken to General Hospital yesterday, have left at the time I visited the place.”
Speaking to reporters Thursday evening, Director General, Lagos Safety Commission Lanre Mojola said the market will be sealed, condemning the people’s recalcitrance.
He said the losses were not quantifiable, adding that post incidence investigation had commenced.
“The incident has happened so we have moved into post incidence investigation. We identified the root cause of the problem almost immediately yesterday but beyond that we have gone round and have identified the number of buildings that are on the same block that might not be safe. We are also ensuring that all the people are out of the buildings because our priority is to ensure safety of human beings.
“Then, we have had meetings with the various agencies and the local government chairman to chart a way forward and ensure such a calamity never happens again.
“Despite the fact that it was human error and avoidable, it has happened and we must look beyond this phase to collectively engage all market leaders. We have been sensitising them but we have to make the traders more responsible. Part of the plan is to have regular meetings on Thursdays with safety simulations.
“So far from the look of it we have got nine buildings all together, three completely collapsed and the remaining have had partial collapse and some of them have been touched. The fire that started Thuraday morning has been put out. No life was lost. The firemen have been working for over 24 hours.
“The government has been very responsive, effective and efficient but the message again goes back to ensuring that we continue to talk to our people and train them to understand that they need to think first before they act.”
But Mojola’s disclosure that the market would be sealed did not go well with the traders who protested.
They also moved to assault a lawmaker for saying the market will be demolished.
More of the victims yesterday counted their losses, lamenting the misfortune that had become their fate.
Evans Ikechukwu said it was the third time he was falling victim to Balogun market fire, describing the latest as terrible.
“This is the third this has happened here. This is the worst of all. Since we got to Balogun, we have not experienced something like this. This one is too much. It affected us badly. All my goods were burnt down.
“I have warehouses upstairs which all burnt down before my eyes and I could not even pick a pin. It is a very big tragedy to everybody in this Balogun area. I cannot even quantify what I lost here.
“My millions of naira burnt down right in front of me. I just want the government to come to our aid because many people were affected. Many of us cannot feed our families if we do not come to the market everyday so they should come to help us in any way they can and they should do something fast so that we can restore our business because it is from there we are feeding our families.
“About the generator issue, government should provide somewhere for every building to put their generators instead of putting it on top of the building which is very dangerous. We have experienced many fire incidents here and it is devastating,” he said.
Another trader Alhaja Omowunmi Yusuf whose shop was 10, Sunnyland Plaza said she lost that and a warehouse.
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