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.
It was 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.
Sources said the fire was discovered by passers-by, who raised the alarm to alert residents, as majority of tenants in the house were yet to return from work.
The inferno, it was further learnt, 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.
At 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. Vanguard
