A FIRE incident in the early hours of Friday, December 20, claimed the lives of a husband, his wife, and their grandson in the Ori-Eru, Idikan area of Ibadan, Oyo State.
The Oyo State Fire Services Agency confirmed the tragedy in a statement issued by its general manager, Yemi Akinyinka.
According to Akinyinka, the agency received a distress call from a resident, identified as Hassan, at 3:46 a.m.
The agency stressed that the distress call prompted immediate deployment of personnel to the scene.
The ICIR couldn’t confirm how long it took the personnel to get to the scene.
“On arrival, we met an upper floor of a residential storey building of six rooms well alight, and we swiftly swung into action, and the fire was completely extinguished,” he said.
Akinyinka noted that despite their efforts, three occupants of the building – a husband, his wife, and their grandson – lost their lives to the inferno.
However, five other residents were rescued alive, and the ground floor of the building, along with nearby properties, was saved from the blaze.
The agency further noted that investigations revealed that the fire was caused by an attempt to keep the house warm using naked flames, which ignited a huge fire after the occupants fell asleep.
“From our investigation, we discovered that in their attempt to keep their house warm because of the cold weather, they resorted to using naked fire, which resulted in a fire disaster after they had slept off,” the agency said.
This incident follows another tragedy recorded in the ancient city on Wednesday, December 18, when a stampede at a Christmas funfair in the Bashorun district claimed the lives of 35 children and left six hospitalised.
The event had drawn a crowd of over 5,000 children, who were enticed by promises of cash handouts and free food.
The Oyo State Government said victims were taken to hospitals for treatment.
Consequently, the police, who confirmed the casualties, arrested eight people who organised the event, including the main organiser, Naomi Silekunola, a former wife of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M