Death Toll Rises to Five as Rescue Continues After Balogun Market Inferno

The death toll from the devastating fire that ravaged the Balogun commercial district on Lagos Island has risen to five, as rescue and recovery operations entered the fifth day on Sunday, underscoring the scale of one of the deadliest market disasters in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre. The inferno, which began from a single-room apartment on December 24 and rapidly escalated into a multi-building collapse, has continued to pose severe challenges to emergency responders, with intense heat, thick debris, and smouldering structures slowing excavation efforts and raising fears that many more traders remain trapped beneath the rubble.

Two additional bodies, both adult males, were recovered from the debris at about 2:23 pm on Sunday, bringing the confirmed fatalities to five as of 6 pm. Emergency officials described the recovered bodies as being at advanced stages of decomposition, making immediate identification impossible, while rescue teams continued to comb through collapsed sections of the market.

Eyewitnesses and market leaders told journalists that as many as 100 people were feared trapped beneath the remains of five collapsed buildings, including areas under the still-standing but heavily damaged Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) House. They explained that underground sections and upper floors of the structure were used for trading, and that persistent heat from the fire had forced rescue workers to suspend deeper excavation.

Beyond the tragic loss of lives, traders said the economic damage was enormous, with goods worth hundreds of billions of naira destroyed in the blaze. Warehouses stocked with textiles, fashion materials, finished garments and imported goods were reportedly wiped out, leaving thousands of traders jobless and exposing the vulnerability of businesses operating without adequate insurance cover.

Emergency responders said the intensity of the fire remained the biggest obstacle to rescue efforts, despite support from multiple agencies and private organisations providing personnel, equipment and water tankers to the scene.

“The ground is still hot. Bulldozers cannot dig where fire is burning. We have to be alive to save others, so we are proceeding cautiously,” said Plant Manager of Equipment Hub at the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Salami Jamiu.

“It started from one room on the fourth floor. There was nothing so serious initially, but unfortunately it was allowed to escalate. The first fire truck could not do anything, and by the time heavier equipment arrived, it was already too late,” said Clement Molokwu, Chair of the Association of Fashion Wears Dealers in the state.

Market leaders have called on the government to immediately demolish the damaged structures, warning that they pose grave danger to surrounding buildings and livelihoods, while demanding stricter regulation of market spaces, enforcement against illegal conversions of residential and parking areas, and the provision of modern firefighting infrastructure to prevent a recurrence of such a catastrophe.