Early morning inferno consumes 42 rooms, 12 shops in Ilorin

EARLY morning fire outbreak has reportedly razed a total number of 42 rooms and 12 shops at Olaoti Compound, Kankatu area of Okelele in the Ilorin metropolis of Ilorin East local government area.

The Nigerian Tribune gathered that the fire incident which started around 2:am lasted for about four hours, consuming valuable properties in the compound.

Residents were not clear what the immediate cause of the fire outbreak was even as they ruled out possibility of power surge, saying that power had not been restored since last week Tuesday’s rainstorm.

However, some residents who do not want to be named suspected that the cause of the fire outbreak was storage of petroleum product in one of the apartment or shops.

Though no life was lost in the inferno, the victims lost most of their valuables in the disaster.

Fire fighters also had a hectic day putting the raging fire under control as it took them more than hours with about 20 trucks to prevent the fire from spreading to other houses.

When our correspondent visited the scene of the incidents, the victims were seen helpless as sympathisers continued to throng the scene to empathise with them.

The only apartment spared by the fire according to the head of the family compound, Alhaji Imam Olaoti was largely stocked with holy scriptures .

Speaking with our reporter, one of the victims of the fire outbreak, Mr. Kale Yero who is a shop owner, said it was a tanker driver who passed through the road in the midnight that sighted and alerted the residents of the area.

He said though no life was lost to the inferno but lamented that his properties including two motorcycles were burnt beyond recognition.

He said it took the intervention of the fire fighters before the fire was controlled saying that about three water trucks were brought to combat the fire incident.

Meanwhile, the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has commiserated with the victims of the fire disaster, while he admonished the victims to take heart, and not to engage in blame game on the basis of the incident.

Saraki, who spoke through the Director General of Abubakar Bukola Saraki Mandate Constituency Office, Alhaji Musa Abdullahi, during a sympathy visit to the victims in Ilorin, described the incident as an act of God.