A 52-year-old man lost his life after he was trapped inside a short-let apartment that caught fire along the Coca-Cola Road in Ilorin, the Kwara State capitalon Thursday night, February 26.
In a statement released, the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, said the affected structure comprised two flats, each with three bedrooms, and was not a conventional residential apartment.
“The Kwara State Fire Service responded to a fire outbreak at Lafia Hotel, Coca-Cola Road, Ilorin, at about 23:38hrs on Thursday, 27th February 2026. It was an apartment used for short-let purposes, not a residential building. The building consists of two flats with three bedrooms each, and all the rooms were affected by the fire.
Tragically, one life was lost in the incident; an unidentified male, estimated to be about 52 years of age.”
Adekunle mentioned that preliminary investigation revealed that the fire was attributed to a power surge, as the outbreak reportedly occurred immediately after power supply was restored, leading to rapid fire spread across the building.
Firefighters reportedly arrived promptly and succeeded in bringing the blaze under control within minutes, deploying three fire appliances to contain the inferno, with additional support from the Federal Fire Service.