Lagos family loses all children to candle fire

Tragedy struck in the Jakande Estate, Mile 2 area of Lagos State on Tuesday night after a family lost all three children to an inferno which broke out in their apartment.

The victims were identified as Darasimi Ilori (eight months old), Temiloluwa (7), and Daniel (10).

It was learnt that Temilololuwa and Daniel were pupils of Sabis Nursery and Primary School and were in primary three and five respectively.

It was gathered from residents that the fire started after the mother of the children lit a candle, shortly after returning from a church service.

She was said to have locked the children in the room and then went out to pick clothes she had washed and spread out to dry earlier in the day.

Few minutes later, while the kids were asleep, the room was said to have been engulfed in smoke, before fire gutted the flat and burnt the children to death.

The fire started at 10pm.
She said, “When I was locking up my shop around 10pm, I saw their mother coming back from church. The children were feeling sleepy, so she went upstairs to drop them and shut the room. She lit a candle to illuminate the house before coming downstairs to pack their clothes she spread on the line.

“Within a few minutes, I heard a neighbour shouting, ‘Fire! Fire! Fire!’ There was pandemonium everywhere. By the time
we came out, I asked Iya Daniel (Daniel’s mother) where her children were, and she told me they were inside the house.”

The victim’s father, who had just returned from Victoria Island where he worked as a chef in an eatery, began to make rescue efforts. Esiorho said she also joined in the rescue mission.
She said, “Their father ran back because the fire was too intense.

“What I, however, saw was that the seven-year-old girl, Temiloluwa, had woken up and carried her eight-month-old sister, wanting to run out with her.

“But as she got into the parlour, the ceiling collapsed on them and they fell. Both of them were burnt to death. When we were removing their bodies, we saw the skeleton of Temiloluwa and the baby, clutching to each other.”

Omamogho, who said he removed the charred remains of the kids with his hands and took them to the Yaba mortuary in his car, also accused the community leaders of being self-centered.

“The fire service officials came around past 11pm. When they arrived, they were not with a sledgehammer, ladder or even a fire extinguisher. The youths in the estate climbed up and drew the hose upstairs. We put out the fire at 12am and I took the
corpse to the mortuary,” he said.

Source : The Punch