LAGOS—A two-year-old girl, identified as Uzoma, and her
two siblings, Ufoma, 9, and Emeka, 7, have been burnt to
death after fire gutted a three-room boys quarter at Egbeda
in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State.
Vanguard gathered that the inferno, which consumed the
three siblings, a male and two females, started in their
apartment at about 10p.m. when the children were
sleeping.
raised the alarm to alert residents, as majority of tenants in
the house were yet to return from work.
Vanguard gathered that the inferno was caused by a candle
lit by their father, who locked the three children in his
apartment and left for the hospital, where his wife was
receiving post-natal care.
Effort to rescue the three children proved abortive.
Family escaped last year
A resident, who identified herself as Mama Bisi, lamented
that a similar incident occurred last year when the entire
members of the family were sleeping, adding, however, that
they managed to escape.
She added that the children would have escaped the inferno
if their father had yielded to the demands of his two-year-
old daughter that they should go with him.
It was learned that the mother of the children was in the
hospital where she delivered her baby last Friday.
The mother, it was gathered, would have been discharged
from hospital but for lack of funds which delayed her
discharge.
When Vanguard visited the scene, residents were wailing
over the death of the children who were delivered through
caesarean section.
Also, it was learned that the landlord of the building had
been arrested by policemen attached to Shasha Police
Station.
‘My son discovered the fire’
Mr. Christian Ononsolase, a commercial motorcycle
operator, who spoke with emotion, explained how the
incident happened.
He said: “I sent my son on an errand and on his way back,
he discovered the fire and alerted the elders on the street.
“They raised alarm and everyone ran to the well to get
water. But the fire had escalated.
“The fire was put out by officials of the Lagos State Fire
Service, who were alerted a few minutes after the residents
discovered that the fire had escalated than they expected.
“Many did not know that the children were in the building. It
was after the fire was put out and we were assisting the
occupants of the building to salvage what was left of their
property that we discovered the children were locked up.”
Another resident, who identified himself as Bolu, said the
fire was escalated by the gas cylinder in the building, which
exploded.
Director of the State Fire Service, Mr. Rasaq Fadipe,
confirmed the story.
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