No fewer than 6,700 traders lost their goods to a fire that gutted the popular Mandilas building on Broad Street, Lagos Island Local Government Area of Lagos State on Sunday.
This is just as 450 shops, 30 offices, two hotels, and five restaurants were destroyed by the impact of the fire which affected the 14-storey building.
The Lagos State Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency, Ibrahim Farinloye, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.
The Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service disclosed that careless welding during the installation of a power generator on the second floor of the Mandilas building in Lagos led to the fire incident.
The fire reportedly started from the first floor of the building and spread to the seventh floor.
Farinloye stated that, “The impacted traders are estimated to accommodate about 6,700 traders, 450 shops, 30 offices, two hotels, and five restaurants, according to the Iya Oja of the Atunwase International Market Mandilas General, Alhaja Adeniji Rashidat, who briefed the assessors.
“The fire which started at about 0011 hours began at the first floor where an alleged wielding activity was going on.
“It was alleged that the people around did not notice the fire until it was too late before the fire service was contacted. The fire, also, spread to surrounding market stalls at the Atunwase International Market with equal extensive damage as the main complex.”
Meanwhile, our correspondent who monitored activities at the scene of the fire observed some of the traders lamenting the huge losses they incurred from the fire incident.
Some of the traders were reluctant to speak to the media, stressing that they were not in the right frame of mind as a result of the loss they suffered in the incident.
However, some who spoke disclosed that the loss could not be quantified as many traders had reportedly lost their life savings to the fire.
A trader who identified herself as Sewa lamented the impact of the fire which she claimed had left her devastated.
“I sell clothes in this building and my goods were affected. I can’t even quantify the loss that I have incurred from this incident. I am devastated at this moment. Do you know how many goods have been lost to this fire?” Sewa asked.
Another trader who did not want his name in print disclosed that the lack of access road for the firefighters’ truck to access the incident scene earlier led to the devastating effect of the fire.
The source said, “The fire started from a welding point where construction was going on to attach a new structure to the building. When we noticed the fire and the fire service came, they could not access the main area where the fire was at its highest because the road leading to the spot where the fire started was narrow.
“By the time they were able to contain the fire, it had spread to the 7th floor with several goods getting destroyed inclusive of mine. I cannot even be talking about the loss. One of us, Agu, lost goods worth almost a billion naira. He owns an entire floor in this building. His (Agu) brother’s store was also affected.”
Also, a trader identified as Badmus, in a WhatsApp status sighted by our correspondent, disclosed that he lost goods estimated at N200m to the fire incident.
The message read in part, “We were deeply affected by the fire as I lost all the stock in my warehouse of more than 7,000 shoes estimated to be N200,000,000 and all the documents in my office including deals I’ve not concluded yet.
“I am someone who believes everything happens for a reason, but this is a lot to comprehend. Will Badmus Store bounce back? Sure, it will, if our customers stick with us.”
Emergency responders including men of the Lagos Fire Service, Police, Lagos State Building Control Agency, and Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps were sighted at the scene of the incident controlling the situation and movement around the building.