Crimes

7 children rescued as fire guts Lagos orphanage home

The officers of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) have rescued no fewer than seven children from a fire incident at an orphanage/motherless babies home in the Aguda area of the state.

The LASEMA spokesman, Nosa Okunbor, who confirmed the incident in the early hours of Monday, disclosed that the orphanage home was gutted by fire which started from an air conditioning unit in the house due to a power surge on Sunday afternoon.

Okunbor noted that the seven male children were rescued by the officers of the agency from the one-storey building housing the home which is located at No. 7 Wole Madariola St., off Enitan Kusimo Street, Aguda, Lagos State.

He said: “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 as a result of 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 LASEMA of plans to relocate the children to the house of the owner of the home temporarily, to ensure their welfare was sustained.

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

“Post-disaster assessment revealed that the whole of the first floor was salvaged, while the fire was contained in the store room and the rest of the ground floor was also salvaged.”

The LASEMA spokesperson stated that the children have been handed over to officials of the Child Protection Unit of the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development who formally handed them over to the Red Cross.

He noted that neither injuries nor casualties were recorded in the near-fatal incident, adding that the operation has been concluded.

The Star