TRAGEDY: Three Siblings Burnt To Death In Lagos Inferno (PHOTO)

Three siblings have died in inferno that gutted a three-room apartment at Egbeda in Alimosho local government of Lagos state.

Vanguard reports that the inferno started at about 10pm on June 13, Saturday, when a two-year-old Uzoma and her two siblings, Ufoma, 9, and Emeka, 7, were sleeping.

According to sources, the fire was discovered by passers-by, who raised the alarm to alert residents of the house.

It is understood that the horrible inferno was caused by a candle lit by the children’s father, who locked the children in his apartment. The man reportedly went to the hospital to check his wife, who had just given birth to their fourth child.

Razak Fadipe, the director of Lagos state fire service, confirmed the incident and advised people to stop using candles to light their houses. He said that the fire service was not called to the scene on time, so was unable to save the children.

Fadipe said that the charred bodies of the dead children had been removed to a mortuary by the police from Shasha Division.

Meanwhile, a resident, who identified herself as Mama Bisi, recalled that a similar incident happened last year when all members of the family were sleeping. However, she added that they managed to escape and save their lives.

According to the woman, the children could have escaped death if their father had yielded to the demands of his two-year-old daughter, who insisted that they should go with him.

Christian Ononsolase, one of the witnesses, explained how the incident happened.

“I sent my son on an errand and on his way back, he discovered the fire and alerted the elders on the street. They raised alarm and everyone ran to the well to get water. But the fire had escalated.

“The fire was put out by officials of the Lagos state fire service, who were alerted a few minutes after the residents discovered that the fire had escalated than they expected.

“Many did not know that the children were in the building. It was after the fire was put out and we were assisting the occupants of the building to salvage what was left of their property that we discovered the children were locked up,” he said.

A month ago the Lagos state government made public shocking statistics. According to it, fires had destroyed estimated property worth N23.02 billion and killed 157 people in the state in the previous 15 months.