A massive fire outbreak has gutted parts of the Great Nigeria Insurance House, a 22-storey commercial building located on Martins Street, Lagos Island, causing panic in the area on Wednesday.
The incident was confirmed by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) in an official situation report.
According to the report, signed by Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu, Public Safety Officer at LASEMA, the fire originated from an apartment on the fourth floor of the building. The inferno rapidly spread to other sections of the same floor before escalating upwards to the sixth floor with what officials described as rapid upward momentum.
As of the time of filing this report, the number of casualties remains unknown, as emergency responders are still battling the blaze and conducting search-and-rescue operations within the affected sections of the high-rise structure.
Emergency response agencies were swiftly mobilised to the scene. They include LASEMA, the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, the Federal Fire Service, the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC), the Nigeria Police, the Nigerian Red Cross, and Lagos Response Unit (LRU) Paramedics.
To contain the fire, six fire trucks and a skylift were deployed, while the LRU Fire Team was also activated to support firefighting and rescue efforts, particularly in accessing the upper floors of the building.
More details shortly.