At least ten people have died and 25 others injured after a fire broke out in a high-rise building in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital.
Videos on social media on Tuesday showed occupants of the seven-storey Afriland Towers jumping out of the third and fourth floors when the fire started.
The victims were commercial workers who were trapped inside the building, which hosts many commercial companies and organizations in the city.
Most of the survivors suffered burns and fractures while trying to escape, while others had respiratory distress from smoke inhalation.
Authorities say the occupants became disoriented due to rapid smoke spread and lack of clear evacuation guidance, leading to desperate attempts to escape through broken windows, which resulted in severe trauma.
Chukwuemeka Eze, a trader who witnessed the incident, told the BBC: It was scary; some jumped from up there, many people inside were too scared to jump down, we got a wooden ladder to assist them.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (Lasema) stated that the fire, which lasted for hours, began in the basement of the building, attributed to poor maintenance and inadequate ventilation surrounding electrical equipment.
Lasema noted: The building lacked effective smoke extraction systems, and the public address systems were non-functional, exacerbating the chaos during the fire.
Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu has described the incident as unfortunate, extending condolences to the victims' families. Meanwhile, the Nigeria Federal Fire Service has commenced an investigation into the fire's causes, focusing on safety systems and compliance with regulations.
