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The three members of the family who perished in a fire in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, were described by their close neighbours.
According to ZINGTIE, a fire event at the Omotara complex in Ori Eru, Idikan, Ibadan North West Local Government Area, on Friday, claimed the lives of a family of three, including a man, his wife, and his granddaughter.
During the incident, a 60-year-old man named “Baba Yunus,” his wife, and their eight-year-old grandson, Samuel, were all burned to death.
Mr. Yemi Akinyinka, the general manager of the Oyo State Fire Service, attested to the occurrence.
In a statement provided to ZINGTIE, Akinyinka also mentioned that five individuals had been saved.
“We evacuated three bodies. But, you know that only the doctors can confirm anyone dead.
“The unfortunate incident was reported to our agency at exactly 03:46hrs on Friday, 20th December, 2024.
“Immediately the address was taken, the men and officers of the agency led by ACFS Oyedeji were promptly deployed to the scene of the incident.
“On arrival, we met an upper floor of a storey-residential building of six rooms well alight, we swiftly swung into action and the fire was completely extinguished.
“Three (3) bodies: husband and wife and their grandson, while five persons were rescued alive from the building. The ground floor of the building was protected and other nearby properties,” he said.
The victims’ immediate neighbours have now called the act regrettable and startling.
According to the locals, the deceased wept until they passed away.
According to a neighbour who went by the name Bose Ayinde, the fire incident began early Friday morning.
“The fire started at midnight when we had all slept off; we suddenly heard a loud voice.
“We even thought it was thieves that came to our house.
“When we rushed out, we realised it was fire, we could not help the victims because the fire was so heavy to the extent that no one can even move close to it, we are very sad because both husband, wife and their grandson got burnt to death,” she disclosed.
Mr. Aliu Omotara, another resident, called the act regrettable.
“We suddenly heard the victims shouting fire, fire around 3 am; the fire started from their parlor, all our efforts to rescue them proved abortive.
“NEPA (sic) used to give us light between 12:30am to 6:30 in the morning.
“When the fire started, the victims started shouting for rescue, the couples slept inside the room but the fire started from their parlour, so, there was no other exit for them except through the parlour.
“Their efforts to escape through the window proved abortive because of the burglary in the window.
“The wife died first; he husband and son came to the window shouting for help, we were downstairs looking at them upstairs, but we couldn’t help them because the fire was so heavy that no one can even move close to it.”
Another neighbour, who identified herself as Mrs Dupe Ajibade, said that the the house was already being razed before the arrival of the state fire service.
She said, “If not for people in the area that tried their best to curtail the fire, all houses close to the area would have got burnt.
“The house has already being razed before the arrival of the fire fighters.
“We could not control tears when the bodies of the victims were brought out.
“We heard they were cooking with hot plate, but slept off in the process.”
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