An octogenarian, Dr Katherine Rewane, has been killed after fire gutted her apartment on Tola Adewunmi Close, Wasinmi, Maryland, Lagos State.
It was learnt that the deceased, who lived alone in a detached five-bedroomed bungalow, had gone to bed on Tuesday night.
However, there was an explosion in her room immediately power was restored to the estate around 3.40am on Wednesday.
She was said to have suffocated to death, and her corpse recovered by the door after she apparently struggled in vain to get out of the house.
A close aide of the victim said they had played together before they went to bed the previous night.
She said, “There had been outage the previous day and at about 3.40am on Wednesday, power was restored. A few minutes after, I heard an explosion in her room.
“I rushed down to see what had happened, but her door was locked. I took the kitchen to her room and saw there was fire everywhere. I called her name, but she didn’t answer me.”
It was gathered that while an ambulance was arranged to take her remains to a mortuary, officials of the Lagos State Fire Service were contacted to put out the fire.
Some military men were reportedly deployed in the area by one of her relatives to stop people from taking snapshots of the scene, while a carpenter was employed to seal the building.
Another close aide of the deceased, who declined identification, told PUNCH Metro she had worked as a medical doctor at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital before she retired.
He said, “She worked in LUTH as a medical doctor for about 30 years, while her husband, who died seven years ago, also worked in the same hospital. They later travelled to Saudi Arabia, where they stayed for a few years.
“They had five kids; while four live abroad, only one is in Lagos.”
Our correspondent gathered that it was not the first time that there would be fire incident in the house.
A source said there had been a fire disaster sometime in December 2015, adding that only the victim’s apartment was affected.
“The December fire happened in broad daylight; hence it was easy for us to put it out.” the source added.
The Director of the Lagos State Fire Service, Rasak Fadipe, who confirmed the incident, said a neighbour walked to the Ilupeju fire station to alert firefighters to the incident.
He said the fire was caused be an electrical surge.
He said, “There are two buildings on the premises and she is the owner of the buildings. The fire, however, affected the five-bedroomed duplex at the back, where she lived alone. We met the fire raging in her bedroom. The place was locked, so we had to break the door to gain entrance into the house. We broke in and met her close to the door; she was trying to find her way out.
“We gathered that before her demise, she was not walking well, and the effect of old age might have affected her mobility. We didn’t allow the fire to spread beyond the room.
“The fire could be attributed to power surge or maybe an appliance was left on, because we gathered that there was no power initially. We handed over the corpse to the police and the family, who had been sent for by neighbours.”
Meanwhile, goods estimated to be worth around N12m were destroyed at Tunde Oginni Textile Market in Dugbe, Ibadan, Oyo State, by fire on Wednesday.
Eyewitnesses could not state what led to the fire as the market had been without electricity supply for the past five days.
No fewer than 13 shops were completely burnt, while 15 others were partially affected. Most of the shop owners said they had just received consignment of goods.
One of those who assisted in putting out the fire, Azeez Okunola, said, “When the fire service officials came with their big truck, they started pumping water from a distance because by then, the fire was going wild. But it was not enough as more shops caught fire. We had to join hands with them to put out the fire. No one can say precisely what caused the fire.”
The Dugbe Market Chief Task Force Officer, identified simply as Uwuji, said the affected traders would need government intervention to bounce back, stating that preliminary estimate of goods and shops destroyed was worth N12m.
He said, “I am a trader here and my shop is among the shops razed by the fire. Not a pin was spared by the fire. The heat was so much that we dared not move closer. We have nothing again. We need government to help us.”