A 103-year-old woman has lost her life following a fire outbreak that razed a residential building on Bola Street, Oyingbo area of Lagos State, on Friday.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) confirmed the incident, saying it received a distress call around noon and immediately activated its emergency response protocol.
In a statement, the Permanent Secretary of the agency, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, disclosed that emergency responders arrived at the scene at about 12:13pm, where they found a bungalow with two shops already engulfed by flames.
According to him, the fire was first noticed in one of the rooms before spreading rapidly to other parts of the building. The cause of the outbreak, he said, had yet to be determined as of the time of filing the report.
Oke-Osanyintolu explained that despite swift intervention by emergency responders, the elderly woman, who was trapped inside the building, did not survive the inferno.
“Unfortunately, one life, a 103-year-old centenarian, was lost to the incident,” he said, noting that her identity was withheld.
The fire reportedly affected eight rooms, a mini-flat, six shops and several household items within the premises, resulting in significant property loss.
The LASEMA boss added that the remains of the deceased had been recovered and handed over to her family, while firefighters, working in collaboration with other emergency agencies, successfully brought the fire under control.
He stated that rescue, recovery and dampening-down operations had been concluded, as relevant authorities continued to assess the full extent of the damage caused by the incident.
