Fire guts Lagos port, goods worth millions of Naira lost

Lagos, NIGERIA — The Terminal ‘C’ managed by Port and Cargo Limited at the Tin-Can Island of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, has been engulfed by raging inferno with cargoes worth millions of Naira destroyed.

A fire outbreak was recorded at Ports and Cargo Terminal berth 7 and 8 at Tin Can, when a crane caught fire and affected a vessel, MV. ALGECIRAS EXPRESS, which was loaded with containers on Thursday, July 20.

Eyewitnesses say the crane caught fire while off-loading containers from the vessel, which extended to the vessel and other containers. It was gathered that the fire involving a Liebherr crane and Mv Hapag – Lloyd was caused by a mechanical fault, which reportedly raged for about four hours before it was brought under control by firemen .

That emergency responds team were mobilised to the scene to battle the fire.

Meanwhile, every attempt made by our correspondent to speak with the management of Port and Cargoproved was abortive as of the time this report was filed.

In a related development, the Lagos State Fire Service has disclosed that the state recorded one thousand, six hundred and forty-two (1,642) fire incidents between January and June 2023, with 42 persons killed.

Similarly, 177 persons were rescued, while N14.62 billion properties were destroyed.

The Director of Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye in its mid-year activity report explained that out of the 1,462 emergencies attended to, fire disasters ranked highest, with 924 incidents in different parts of the state.

The report noted that 92 emergencies on rescue were recorded, 41 on salvage, three on explosion, and two on building collapse, while 400 false calls were received.

Adeseye, in a statement by the agency’s Deputy Director of Public Affairs, Agboola Ololade said: “The estimated properties saved is about N87.72 billion, leaving the properties loss to N14.62 billion.

“Fire incidences increased indiscriminately from the same period compared to the previous year.”

“Investigations revealed that carelessness and negligence were the major causes of the disaster. There was an increase in unfavorable calls that keep occurring due to the change of strategy in the attendance to distress calls without double-checking for false calls.”