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Seven children rescued including 1-year-old baby as fire guts motherless home in Lagos

Published

1 year ago

July 17, 2023

Seven children have been rescued including a one-year-old baby after fire gutted a storey building occupied by an orphanage home in Lagos State.

The fire broke out at Tower of Refuge Motherless/Orphanage babies Home, located on Number 7, Wole Madariola Street, off Enitan Kusimo Street Aguda, Surulere on Sunday, July 16, 2023.

The power surge was said to have been triggered from an air conditioning unit inside the building.

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), in a statement issued by the Permanent Secretary, Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu, on Monday, July 17, 2023, confirmed the incident.

“The fire which had initially spread to the storage room of the home has been extinguished with dampening down concluded.

“A one-storey building housing an orphanage/motherless babies home was engulfed by fire which reportedly started from an air conditioning unit in the house due to a power surge which was said to have quickly spread out.

“A total of seven boys with ages ranging between one and seven years were quickly evacuated from the Home and safely relocated to the compound opposite the Home.

“Management Team of the Home informed LRT of plans to relocate the children to the house of the owner of the Home temporarily, to ensure their welfare was sustained,” the statement read.

The LASEMA boss further disclosed that the children were formally handed over to the Deputy Director, Mr Balogun, and Mrs Rasheedat Sadik, both of the Child Protection Unit of the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development, who then formally handed the seven children over to the RED CROSS.

He added that no injuries, nor casualties were recorded in the near-fatal incident. The operation, he said, was successfully concluded in record time.