It was a mix of grief and palpable
tension in the Alausa area of Lagos on Friday when fire ravaged the
mechanic village located on Ashabi Cole Street in the Central Business
District, destroying over 15 vehicles, while about 10 others were partly
burnt.
The fire was said to have started around
2:30am and lasted several hours before it was put under control by men
of the state Fire Service.
Though no life was lost in the incident,
several other goods were also burnt, including motor batteries and
generators, while some other vehicles were not affected, especially the
ones parked in the inner part of the shop.
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Some
other properties that were completely razed in the premises include a
computer services shop and a confectionery shop. The fire also spread to
the Tisco building, which shares boundary with the mechanic shop,
destroying printing machines, air conditioners, desktop computers,
souvenirs and other items.
When our correspondent visited the
premises on Friday, the expansive village was like a shadow of itself as
it was devoid of its usual activities, coupled with the pungent smell
that rented the air, safe for sympathisers, car owners and mechanics,
who gathered in their numbers counting their losses and lamenting the
tragedy that had befallen them.
One of the owners of the burnt vehicles,
who identified himself simply as Tony, regretted leaving his Honda
Legend saloon car with the mechanic overnight. He told Saturday PUNCH that the car had a minor ignition problem when he gave it to the mechanic.
He said, “I asked my mechanic to pick
the car in my house on Thursday morning and I thought he would finish
it, but when I called him in the evening, he said he would finish it
first thing on Friday morning, so I left the car with him. But the
incident happened overnight.
“My wife was supposed to use the vehicle
to take the children to school on Friday but because it was with the
mechanic we had to look for an alternative.”
Tony, who appeared distraught over the
incident, said he had just repainted the car the previous week in the
same shop, which cost him thousands of naira.
While Tony kept gazing at his burnt
vehicle, one of the mechanics was still at loss as to how to inform his
client that his vehicle had been completely razed by fire. He said he
had finished panel beating the vehicle and had planned to do the
painting on Friday morning when the incident happened overnight.
“I don’t even know how to tell the owner what happened. I don’t know,” he said.
Title : Fire razes Lagos mechanic village, destroys 25 vehicles
Description : It was a mix of grief and palpable tension in the Alausa area of Lagos on Friday when fire ravaged the mechanic village located on...
