Two persons trapped on the second floor escaped death while equipment worth millions of naira was damaged in a fire incident that tore through the old head office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in the Wuse 2 area of Abuja on Monday night.

The data centre was affected by the inferno which reportedly started from the ICT department that formerly served as the newsroom.

EFCC said in a statement by its acting spokesman, Mr. Tony Orilade, that the damage would have been worse if not for the timely intervention of men of the Federal Fire Service.

Firefighters led by the Sector Commander, Melone Onyekachi,  braved their way to the scene and subdued the raging inferno. They were  alerted to  the fire by the Incident Duty Officer of the commission, Kayode Oyetunde,  at 7pm .

The EFCC statement read inter alia: “The fire started at the former newsroom, which now serves as storage for ICT equipment that were retrieved from the commission’s former offices scattered across Abuja.

“The former newsroom is  in the Costa Hall,  which was inaugurated by Dr. Antonio Costa in 2007. The building currently houses the Data Centre and the Combined Inter Agency Task Force.”

According to the statement, two officers attached to the Combined Inter-Agency Task Force who were trapped on the second floor of the building were  rescued before the fire was eventually subdued. The extent of the damage would be ascertained after stock-taking.

Investigation into the matter would commence as soon as the commission takes stock of the extent of damage.