A 52-year-old man has died in a late-night fire that razed a short-let apartment building along Coca-Cola Road in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
The incident occurred around 11:38 p.m. on Thursday at the Lafia Hotel area, where the building, comprising two three-bedroom flats used for short-let purposes, was gutted by fire.
In a statement on Friday, the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Hakeem Adekunle, said all rooms in the structure were affected and heavily filled with smoke, making escape difficult.
He confirmed that one unidentified male victim, believed to be about 52 years old, lost his life in the inferno.
Preliminary investigations attributed the fire to a power surge following the restoration of electricity, which reportedly led to a rapid spread of flames across the building.
The agency said firefighters deployed three appliances to contain the blaze with support from the Federal Fire Service.
Meanwhile, the Director of the Kwara Fire Service, CFS Alabi Muhammed, urged property owners to prioritise electrical safety to prevent future occurrences.
About The Author
