December 18, 2018
By Ijendu Iheaka
A father, his seven year-old son perished in a fire that razed a two storey building at No 1 Mgbe Street near Ariaria market Aba, Abia state on Sunday, Police has confirmed.
The state Police PRO, DSP Geoffrey Ogbonna disclosed this in an interview with our reporter in Aba on Monday.
He said that the father whose name he does not know was with his children in the flat when the fire started hence he made efforts to rescues them.
Ogbonna said that the man had sent down two elderly ones from their balcony and had gone back to the room to bring out the youngest when both were caught by the fire and died.
An eyewitness who lives in the neighbourhood said the fire started by 2 pm razed and raged until about 5 pm because the efforts by residents to contain it was subverted by oozing fluid suspected to be the cause of the fire.
The source who gave his name as Nwanna said that the fire began when a tenant on second floor whose children were involved in oil bunckering came home with their package concealed in polythene bags caught fire.
He said that when the suspected tenants on the right flank of the second floor where the fire began saw that it had engulfed the whole house, they made frantic efforts to evacuate their properties.
He said the selfishness of the occupants of the flat suspected to have originated the fire enraged Aba residents gathered to assist put out the fire who then turned to mob them but they ran away.
“That man Mr Ebere, who died in the fire was bringing down his children out of their first floor flat through the balcony because the liquid suspected to have caused the fire had set the whole staircase in the building on fire at once.
“So there was no place for anybody in the house to run out from. All those who escaped from the house jumped from the balcony as a result.
“Residents made efforts to quench the fire but if you see the huge smoke it was producing, you will know that it must have truly been set off by an inflammable liquid.
“They made efforts to reach the Fire Service people but they said they had no fuel to come and before they arrived, the man and his son had died in the fire”, the witness said.
Ogbonna said the police was still investigating the matter and had no knowledge of the cause of the fire yet.
He also said he could not confirm that the occupants of the inner first floor flat that had not been allegedly seen since the incident on Sunday ran away because they were responsible for it stressing that after the investigations, the truth would be revealed.
A female resident of the building who refused to give her name said huge sums of money, her television set, another neighbor’s TV set and generator were stolen by thieves who disguised as helpers during the fire incident which had left five families homeless.
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