By Onome Oghenetega
At least, two children were reportedly burnt to death when a fire outbreak gutted a building along Jigbale Street off Alegbo Road in Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State.
About five other persons including a teenager were said to have sustained life threatening injuries during the unfortunate incident.
The incident took place at about 9:42pm Wednesday, sacking the entire occupants of the building.
NIGER DELTA TODAY reliably gathered on Thursday that the two deceased children were trapped in the fire and were roasted to death by the raging inferno.
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A resident of the area who craved anonymity told our reporter that the deceased were of the same parents and were sleeping as at the time the incident happened thus they were trapped.
However, one of the children was rescued alive but sustained life threatening burns on his body.
“The two children died before help could come”, the source added.
A resident of the building who survived the unfortunate incident but had his belongings razed said the inferno was caused by a candle light.
The source added further that the fire started from the apartment of the deceased children’s family before spreading to other apartments in the building.
“The woman who caused the fire loss two children to the inferno, which resulted from her careless use of a candle light”, an angry victim told NIGER DELTA TODAY.
The source who declined to give his name amidst wailing, lamented that all occupants of the building lost all their belongings including educational documents to the fire which raged for over three hours on Wednesday night.
It was learnt that about three sympathizers who rushed to the scene to help were also injured in the process of rescuing some of the occupants trapped in the building.
A victim, Mr Henry James, lamented that he lost all he had labored for all his life to the fire, adding that only the clothes he was putting on as at the time the incident occurred that is left with him.
According to him, “The incident happened 9:30pm 30/10/2019.l thank God that l survived. The fire burnt everything that l have in the house. Dis is me ooooooo.”
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James appealed to members of the public to support him and other victims of the incident to start life afresh.
Another witness further told our correspondent that property worth millions of naira were engulfed by the blazing fire.
It was learnt that the corpses of the deceased were deposited at a mortuary in the area while injured victims were receiving medical attention at undisclosed hospitals within the Effurun metropolis.
The Delta State Police Commissioner, Adeyinka Adeleke, could not be reached for official confirmation as his telephone was said to be out switched off at the time of filing this report on Thursday.
