Three siblings burnt to death in Lagos

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Three children of the same parents died in a fire incident which destroyed the topmost floor of block 56, Jankande Estate, Mile 2, Lagos.

The incident, which occurred about 10pm on Tuesday, burnt to death the kids identified as Ayomide, 10, Darasimi, 8, Kemi and 7. The residents of the area said that the fire was caused by a candle, lit by the mother of the children after they returned from church. The burning candle fell on the rug, spread and burnt the kids who were asleep.
The mother was in her shop in another section of the street, while their father was downstairs. A neighbour, Kingsely Efon, said the children and their parents had just returned from church when their mother took them inside to go and sleep. He said: “I was downstairs when we noticed the fire.
I started shouting fire, fire, to alert neighbours and their parents. Some people and I rushed upstairs with buckets of water, to see if we could put out the fire and rescue the children.” Efon explained that the fire spread too fast, getting to the living room and soon the kids. “
Some of us found our away upstairs, but there was no space to rescue the children, let alone the property as the sitting was covered with thick smoke.” Christy Macaulay, one of the occupants of the building, said she was inside the house when she heard the noise. She said: “I peeped through the window.
I saw my neighbour shout fire. I ran inside and woke my husband, because he was already asleep. My little girl was behind me and my boy was playing football in the sitting room. I started hearing footsteps upstairs. We managed to come out. “My husband, my kids and I escaped through the window.
We would have been killed too. I learnt that my neighbour’s three children were inside when the fire started. All of them got burnt to death. It was just unfortunate that things like this had to happen at this time.” Another resident, who simply identified himself as Emmanuel, said it took the officials of the Lagos State Fire Service several hours to arrive at the scene.
He said: “Even when they finally arrived, they were complaining of not being paid for months. They said they could not kill themselves trying to safe another person’s life.” Emmanuel said that if the firefighters had come on time, the children would have been rescued alive.
The Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Razak Fadipe, said that three children died in the fire disaster, explaining that the fire service was not called on time. He said: “We got a distress call last night (Tuesday) and when we got there, we discovered that it was a building that was on fire.
“The fire was caused by a candle which was lit by their mother. Two water tanks were used in putting out the fire. The Osodi and Festac Fire Stations were involved in putting out the fire.”
According to him, the top floor of the building was razed, particularly the two flats on the top floor where the children were. Fadipe appealed to the residents to desist from using candle in their homes as it could be very dangerous. He added that they could purchase cheap rechargeable lamps that would be more useful for them at night.http://newtelegraphonline.com/three-siblings-burnt-to-death-in-lagos/