Seven victims have been confirmed dead following the fire incident at the Afriland Tower in the Lagos Island area of Lagos State on Tuesday.
The victims were said to have died in hospitals across the state, where they had been rushed to after being evacuated from the high-rise building.
It was gathered that doctors are battling to save the lives of the remaining victims in the hospitals.
The incident was one of two separate fire incidents that rocked the Lagos Island Business District on Tuesday, which left several others injured and goods worth millions of naira destroyed.
While the first fire started at the Afriland Tower in Marina, the second gutted Mandilas Market and adjoining plazas along Taiwo Street.
According to multiple videos shared on social media and seen online, individuals were seen attempting to jump from the Afriland Tower storey building, while others were rescued with the aid of ladders by residents and passersby.
During this process, some individuals sustained varying degrees of injury before the arrival of firefighters.
The Deputy Controller of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Ogabi Olajide, in a statement on Tuesday, however, stated that 11 persons had been evacuated into the ambulances, while five individuals were successfully resuscitated among them.
The management and staff of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, however, confirmed the death of four staff members in the fire incident.
The deceased staff members were working at one of the two FIRS offices housed on the sixth and seventh floors of the towers when the incident occurred.0
The Special Adviser on Media to the FIRS chairman, Dare Adekanmbi, in a statement on Wednesday, identified the affected staff members as Mrs Ekelikhostse George (Assistant Director), Mr David Sunday-Jatto (Assistant Director), Mrs Nkem Onyemelukwe (Senior Manager), and Mr Peter Ifaranmaye (manager).
“It is with a heavy heart that FIRS announces the tragic loss of four of its staff members during the fire incident at Afriland Towers, Broad Street, Lagos, on Tuesday. FIRS is one of the tenants occupying the Towers, with our Medium Tax Audit and Onikan Emerging Tax Office housed on the sixth and seventh floors.
“Our Security and Safety officials quickly mobilised and contacted the fire service as soon as they were alerted. On getting to the scene, thick dark smoke was already billowing out of the building.”
The management offered condolences to the families of the deceased, adding that it was working in collaboration with all relevant agencies in Lagos to get to the root cause of the unfortunate incident.
Also confirming the development on Wednesday, an official of the Lagos State Government, who preferred anonymity as he was not permitted to speak on the matter, said seven casualties had so far been recorded.
According to the official, the victims died at three separate hospitals – two on Lagos Island and one in the Surulere area of the state.
“I can confirm seven casualties at the hospitals where they were taken to. There are two males and three females that I know of among them. Immediately the victims were rescued, some of them were taken to the General Hospital, Odan; St Nicholas Hospital on Campbell Street, and Avon Hospital, Surulere.
Four victims are still being treated in some of the hospitals.”