August 19, 2013
We heard fire victims cry for help –Residents
Ekene
Neighbours
of a family that perished in an inferno in a building located in
Shagari Estate, Lagos State, said they heard the victims’ cries for
help.
PUNCH Metro had reported last
week Thursday that a family of five lost their lives after fire
engulfed their three-bedroom apartment in the early hours of Wednesday.
The victims of the fire were the mother,
Mrs Anwuzia, the children, Ekene 16, and Emeka 17, an aunt, identified
only as Philomena, and another yet-to-be- identified man.
It was learnt that the father was not at home when the incident occurred.
A friend of the children, who spoke to
our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said he was talking to
one of the victims when the incident happened.
He said, “Around 11.30pm that day, I was
chatting with Ekene on the telephone and after sometime, she stopped
responding. I was later told by another friend that their house was on
fire at the time.
“We were told that they were crying for help but no one could help them because the fire was intense.”
An eyewitness said one of the victims alerted neighbours – who shared the compound with them – to the fire.
He said sympathisers rushed to the scene and made attempts to douse the flames but could not succeed.
It was learnt that when the fire became intense, firefighters were called to the scene.
The victims were said to have continued to scream for help but the thick smoke later subdued them.
Another eyewitness said as the fire engulfed the entire building, the roof fell on the victims.
He said, “They continued to scream for
help but the fire was spreading too quickly. One of the women in the
house was even trying to force her way out through the burglarproof iron
but the roof fell on her.”
The state command’s Police Public
Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, told our correspondent on the telephone
that the corpses had been handed over to the family for burial.
Braide said, “The matter was under
investigation at the Gowon Police Division but the father said he did
not suspect foul play and requested the immediate release of the corpses
for burial.”
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