A fire outbreak on Friday morning killed a mother and her four children in their residence in the Okochiri community in the Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The cause of the fire was not immediately determined, but a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said it occurred when someone attempted to discharge petrol into a jerrycan, but the substance spontaneously ignited.
According to the source, the petrol could have been faulty.
Igwe Godswill, Commander of the Civilian Joint Task Force in Okrika LGA, confirmed the incident over the phone, saying information were still sketchy.
Godswill, however, stated that when he arrived at the scene with his team, they found the lifeless bodies of the woman and her four children.
He stated, “We just heard the news this morning about the fire. There are no proper details as to what happened. But when we got there this morning, we saw that about four children and their mother, a total of five persons, were burnt and died.
“The police had already arrived and taken proper details of what happened. It is so disheartening that this is happening again in our community.”
Godswill stated that by the time he arrived, youngsters in the community had extinguished the fire and that the occupants were assumed to have died before the fire was put out.
He requested an investigation to discover the reason for the incident.
“When we got there this morning, the fire had been put out and the police had already come to the scene. I believe a proper investigation will be carried out,” the Civilian JTF official said.
In the meantime, a video of the incident that our reporter viewed showed a woman complaining about how cramped the house was, while the roof and other sections of the building seemed to be damaged.
Upon being contacted, the spokesperson for the state police command, Blessing Agabe, stated that she would look into the incident and then get back to our reporter.
As of the time this report was filed on Friday afternoon, Agabe, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, had not yet provided any feedback.
It will be recalled that a fire destroyed several shops at the Pumpum Nuri Water Site in Geidam Local Government Area of Yobe State early in September.
The fire started at the Pumpum Nuri Water Site and burned several shops before it was finally brought under control.
