Four staff of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and three others 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.
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.
The Deputy Controller of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Ogabi Olajide, in a statement on Tuesday, however, confirmed 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.
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. A 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.
