An early morning fire has claimed the lives of three people at Alade Close, Ikeja, Lagos, on Tuesday.

According to reports, a middle-aged businesswoman, her teenage maid and houseboy died in the fire which gutted a two-bedroomed apartment on the top floor of a one-storeyed building on the close.

It was gathered that the woman’s husband and their daughter escaped from the fire, which started around 2am from their living room and spread to another two-bedroomed flat on the floor, whose occupants escaped unhurt.

Although the cause of the fire had yet to be officially determined, some residents claimed that it was caused by an electrical surge.

Our correspondent learnt that the houseboy, identified only Nonso, had wanted to use the toilet when he met fire burning in the living room and raised the alarm.

The couple were said to have fled downstairs with their child while Nonso battled to rescue the housemaid, who was trapped in the inferno.

It was gathered that when the woman did not see home help, who were said to be her relations, she returned to the apartment in a desperate attempt to rescue them.

The three of them were thereafter trapped, as residents and men from the Lagos State Fire Service and the state emergency management agency fought to put out the raging fire.

The eyewitness, who did not want his name in print, said the three corpses were brought out from the flat around 5am after the fire had been put out.

He said Nonso had just returned from his village in the eastern part of the country to deposit his late father in a morgue, adding that he was the only son of his parents.

He said,

“The man was a customs officer while his wife worked with the Federal Road Safety Corps, but I do not know their names. I only know Nonso, their houseboy. The woman also has a big shop at Alade Market.

“The fire started around 2am. People said the fire was caused by an electrical surge. The man escaped with his daughter. When they got downstairs and noticed that the domestic helps were still in the apartment, his wife returned to look for them. But by the time she got upstairs, smoke had filled everywhere.

“The husband wanted to go into the apartment too when he realised that his wife and the domestic helps had been trapped. I was the one who held him. He wondered what he would tell his in-laws when he got back to the village. The domestic helps were relations of the wife. The family was preparing for the burial of Nonso’s father.”

PUNCH