By Blaise Udunze
A commercial building housing a branch of Stanbic IBTC, a member of Standard Bank Group, in Ipaja of Lagos States was yesterday completely burnt to ashes with along with four vehicles while three staff of the bank were injured.
The fire outbreak, which commenced at about 3.45pm started within the bank’s premises as a result of the actions of one of its staff refilling the generator tank with a hose from the stored fuel loaded in his vehicle.
The fire, which spontaneously caught up with him moved straight to the generator house and then to the vehicles within the compound.
According to eyewitnesses, the fire which started within the bank’s compound later moved into the banking hall, allowing only a few staff to escape before thugs and passersby came to the rescue.
Eyewitnesses, however, said that the Stanbic IBTC building occupied by two companies also had the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) mounted outside the banking hall destroyed.
However, the Lagos State government Fire Service, G 30 Rapid Eagle, eventually came to the rescue at 4.30pm. But by then, it had become too late as millions of naira had been stolen by the rescuers and property heavily damaged.
Commenting on the incident, the bank’s Head of Marketing Communications Nkeiru Olumide Ojo said “We can confirm there was a fire incident at our Ipaja office premises. The fire was contained and there was no loss of life.
