Five burnt bodies have been recovered from the Great Insurance House building, and some are still trapped beneath the rubble, following the fire outbreak at Balogun Market on Wednesday.
What was a normal market day for buyers and sellers spiralled into a full-blown tragedy on the eve of Christmas when the fire broke out around 4 pm.
When FIJ visited the scene of the fire on Tuesday morning, six days after the incident, the 22-storey building known as the Great Insurance House stood tall but was still covered in smoke. The fire was still burning.
Witnesses told FIJ that an unknown number of people are still trapped inside the Insurance House building, where the fire emanated from.
Also at the scene were a fire service truck, an excavator digging out the ruins and Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC) officers stationed there to cordone off the affected sections of the market for safety reasons.
The fire affected at least five other buildings surrounding the Great Insurance House. A trader told FIJ that one of the affected buildings was under construction before the incident, but only rubble and a heap of collapsed concrete stood in its place on Tuesday.
Sources also disclosed that this multi-storey building had numerous warehouses where business owners stored large quantities of goods such as bags, shoes and clothes — now all gone.
While at the scene, FIJ’s reporter, LNSC officials and firefighters, among others, were thrown into panic as another affected building collapsed at about 11:25 am.
It was a scene of panic and commotion, witnessed firsthand, as everyone scrambled for safety upon hearing the loud sound of the falling structure. While people ran, a few voices repeated “take it easy”.
FIJ would later understand that many people panicked because they thought it was the multi-storey building where the inferno began that collapsed.
As soon as the coast was clear, many returned to the scene, and FIJ found that no one was hurt in the collapse.
While some attributed the recent collapse to a weakened foundation, some said the excavator was used to tip off the building to prevent a sudden collapse.
