A retired radiologist who happens to be the eldest child of late Ologbosere of Warri Kingdom, Chief O. N. Rewane, was yesterday burnt to death in an early morning fire in Lagos.
75-year-old Dr. Irene Damola (nee Rewane) was at at her 5, Tola Adewunmi Street, Maryland, Lagos residence where the unfortunate incident occured.
According to Vanguard, the fire started from her bedroom in the duplex occupied by her and a domestic staff.
Eyewitnesses claim the smoke was noticed upstairs at midnight, following which security men raised alarm. Efforts by the private guards in the street to put out the fire failed.
Eyewitnesses said:
“Some people even attempted to move in to rescue Dr. Damola, but the entrance door was locked. “The young lady living with her later opened the door. By the time the fire was put out by the fire service men, she had been burnt to death.”
Lagos State Fire Service Director, Mr. Rasaq Fadipe, said the fire service got to the scene at about 4.02a.m. as soon as they got the information and tried to save the lives of the occupants. He said:
“It is a five-bedroom apartment. The woman, Dr. Irene Damola, lives upstairs, while the young lady staying with her lives downstairs. The fire started from her bedroom.
“She made efforts to escape, but the fire caught up with her at the door of her bedroom, where my men met her dead. “We were able to prevent the fire from spreading to the ground floor. We gathered that before her demise, she was not walking well, and the effect of old age might have affected her mobility. We didn’t allow the fire to spread beyond the room.
“The fire could be attributed to power surge or maybe an appliance was left on, because we gathered that there was no power initially. We handed over the corpse to the police and the family, who had been sent for by neighbours.”
The corpse was handed over to policemen from Anthony Village Division.” Late Dr. Damola retired as a radiologist in Saudi Arabia before returning to Nigeria. She also worked at Lagos University Hospital, LUTH.
