Lagos banger fire: Another Stockpile of unexploded firecrackers uncovered
Another stockpile of unexploded firecrackers was discovered on Friday at the Jankara Market in Isale Eko, Lagos.
Following the discovery, the building in
which the firecrackers were kept, which is located on Okoya Street, was
promptly sealed by the various security agencies keeping watch at the
market.
About 10 buildings and 15 cars were
razed on Wednesday when a warehouse containing a stockpile of
firecrackers caught fire and exploded.
“The warehouse containing the
firecrackers, which exploded on Wednesday at Ojo Giwa Street, is owned
by a Nigerian. He owns another store on Okoya Street. We discovered this
on Thursday and notified the police. The building has been sealed.
“All the buildings which were razed down
by the fire have been marked for demolition. That will be done as soon
as we can get the faulty excavators working again,” an official of the
Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps said.
There was a reported on
Wednesday that a 240ft container of firecrackers was offloaded at the
warehouse, three days before the incident.
Meanwhile, some residents of Okoya
Street and shop owners, who admitted the presence of a second stockpile
of firecrackers, said they could not identify the warehouse.
“Nobody knows the particular building
where the second stockpile of firecrackers is kept. I learnt that the
owner of the firecrackers travelled to Kwara State for the Christmas
holidays and a message has been sent to him. He will return soon.
“I am aware that about 15 persons lost
their lives in this fire. Some of the victims were little children. I
live on Okoya Street and we were so lucky that neither our building nor
my mother’s shop was affected by the fire,” a resident, Bunmi Lawani,
said.
As at 11 am, firecrackers could still be heard popping off at intervals from the smoldering warehouse on Ojo Giwa Street.
While the excavators worked to clear the
debris from the fire, officials of the NSCDC, the National Emergency
Management Agency and a team of policemen struggled to keep back crowds
of spectators from surging beyond barriers erected on the four affected
streets.
On Okoya Street, some street urchins
argued with NEMA officials who were determined to prevent them from
looting shops affected by the fire. Curiously, the St Patrick’s Catholic
Church, which is opposite a building that was completely razed, was
virtually unaffected.
An Indian businessman named Anil Kumar
lamented the loss of goods valued at N30m, which were stored in a
building directly behind No 45 Ojo Giwa Street.
“I rented two floors in that building
where I stored blenders and all forms of electronic items before
distributing them to other stores. When I was informed that the building
was burning on Wednesday, I raced down here. By the time I got here,
there was thick smoke everywhere. The entire building was in flames. I
have tried to enter the building, but the security personnel on ground
won’t let me in,” he said.
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