Following the devastating inferno that gutted Afriland Towers, a six-storey commercial building on Broad Street, Lagos Island on Tuesday, six additional victims were confirmed dead yesterday, after the initial four persons on the fateful day.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, and Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the 2025 election, Peter Obi, had in separate messages, expressed their condolences to family members, management of Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, United Bank for Africa, UBA, and United Capital Plc over unfortunate incident.
The latest six casualties were employees of United Capital Plc, a financial and investment services firm, situated on the third and fourth floors of the building.
Lagos fire service confirms 10 dead
Meanwhile, Director, Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Mrs. Margaret Adeseye, in a statement earlier, confirmed 10 persons dead.
In her response, titled; “Update on the report of fire incident at Afrialand Towers Broad Street, Lagos,” simply stated, “Further investigation with the Afriland team however, revealed that 10 adults male including female were confirmed dead afterwards.”
Recall that the management and staff of FIRS, had earlier in a statement on Wednesday, by the Special Adviser on Media to the FIRS chairman, Dare Adekanmbi, confirmed the death of four staff members to include: Mrs. Ekelikhostse George (Assistant Director), Mr David Sunday-Jatto (Assistant Director), Mrs. Nkem Onyemelukwe (Senior Manager) and Mr Peter Ifaranmaye (Manager).
One of the deceased, Jatto, it was gathered was in the office on the fateful day to hand over officially to his successor after been redeployed to another branch when the tragedy claimed his life.
The raging fire it was gathered by emergency agencies, originated in the inverter room located in the basement of the building while smoke spread across multiple floors and engulfed the structure, trapping occupants in the process.
“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 mobilized 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 and entire staff are in deep shock and sorrow over the development. They offer their condolences to the grieving families and are in touch with the families of our departed colleagues whose commitment to excellence, dedication and professionalism were never in doubt. We will provide all the necessary support at this trying time.
“We are working in collaboration with all relevant agencies in Lagos to get to the root cause of the unfortunate incident. While this is going on, we will be reviewing safety measures across FIRS offices in both rented and owned buildings nationwide,” the statement reads.
However, statement by United Capital Plc yesterday, reports came in from another affected firm management, confirming the loss of six members of staff to the tragic incident, raising the total death toll to 10 so far.
