How family lost four children to inferno

Weekly Trust gathered that no sooner had Umar settled and asked his wife Bilkisu to wait up and help him with the recording of the marked scripts had an inferno erupted in his wife’s apartment, eventually snuffing out the lives of all four of his children who were comfortably sleeping in their mother’s bedroom. According […]

Weekly Trust gathered that no sooner had Umar settled and asked his wife Bilkisu to wait up and help him with the recording of the marked scripts had an inferno erupted in his wife’s apartment, eventually snuffing out the lives of all four of his children who were comfortably sleeping in their mother’s bedroom.

According to Umar, his wife was the first to hear a strange sound, so she begged ball to excuse her to find out what was happening, only to be confronted by a huge bolt of fire that had already engulfed the living room and was threatening to find its way into her bedroom where their four children were sleeping.

Reports indicate that the confused mother of four had initially attempted to go inside in a bid to save the lives of her children, but couldn’t charge into the fire and therefore decided to instantly alert her husband who was still in his wing busy marking examination papers.

Said he: “I heard her screams and quickly bolted out of where I sat marking scripts. When I saw the fire, my mind immediately went to our four children.

“I attempted to go and save them, but was forced back by the raging fire. I tried to break the burglar-proof in the room in vain, so I climbed the roof to see if I could find a way in, but the fire was raging and about to engulf me, so I retreated and shouted for help.”

Weekly Trust gathered further that it took the intervention of neighbours and passersby who responded to their call for help to prevent both Umar and his wife from getting back into the fire even as they themselves had already tried in vain to save the lives of their trapped children.

Isa Salisu, a neighbour who spoke to this reporter, revealed that though people made spirited attempts to quench the fire with water and even succeeded in forcing open the burglary proofs, they, however, could not save the lives of the four children who had already been suffocated to death by fumes from the raging fire.

He said it was after they held the parents back from the fire that they realised that the mother had apart from the shock also sustained some second-degree burns on her two palms and was therefore rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Katsina where she was admitted and is still recuperating as at the time of filing this report.   

The pathetic-looking father of four told Weekly Trust amidst tears that till date, he cannot comprehend with the realities of such an incident that has not only razed parts of his house, but has equally claimed the ultimate fruits of his 10-year-old marriage, adding that he still cannot quantify the loss that he has suffered.

He, however, said that as a Muslim, he cannot but accept his fate and the fact that the God that gave him all the children at different times has decided to take them back at the same time. He prayed that God who took them will give he and his wife the fortitude to bear the loss and grant the deceased solace in aljannar firdausi.

Further checks by our correspondent revealed that the cause of the inferno was strongly suspected to have emanated from a candle lit by the mother in the living room after the usual power failure by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). Mallam Umar confirmed that his wife lit a candle to enable her complete her domestic chores due to the constant erratic power failure being experienced in the area.

Weekly Trust confirmed that the four children have been buried in Rafindadi graveyard in Katsina metropolis. The eldest, Sa’adatu, and her two brothers Hanafi and Abubakar were to have celebrated their ninth, sixth and third birthdays respectively in February 2010 just as their youngest, Faruk, turned one year old only last August.

Meanwhile, experts have continued to caution parents on the need to be extra vigilant in lighting flammable substances  during the coming harmattan season to forestall the possible incidences of fire outbreaks, especially with the inability of the government to live up to its 6000 megawatts December deadline in the country.