By Abimbola Ogunnaike
A four year- old girl identified as Faridat Shittu, her uncle, grandparents are currently in a critical condition at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) after a cooking gas explosion ravaged a three-storey building in Lagos on Sunday, 4 February, 2024.
The incident occurred in a building along Odubanwo Street, off Olaniyi Street, Gbinrinmi in Ojokoro Local Council Development Area of the state.
It was gathered that the grandmother was frying meat when the oil caught fire, just as efforts to douse the fire were said to have failed as it led to the explosion of the cooking gas.
It was learnt that the little girl was sleeping in her room when the incident happened around 2pm. The fire was later put out and the victims rescued by community members.
The Territorial Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the South-West, Ibrahim Farinloye, confirmed the development to newsmen on Monday, 5 February, 2024
According to Farinloye, the building with 14 rooms and shops was reduced to rubble due to the intensity of the explosion which rendered about 11 families homeless.
“The landlord, Pa Femi Odubanwo Solomon, disclosed that neighbours saved him from dying in the incident as he was initially trapped. The landlord is presently squatting in a church opposite his destroyed house,” he added.
Similarly, an outbreak of fire which occurred on Sunday destroyed about 100 building materials shops, 18 iron/steel recycling shops, 19 diesel lister generators, and 34 different types of motorcycle machines in the Abule-Egba area of Lagos.
Also destroyed by fire were five 14-seaters buses, three cars and two trucks.
