Seven out of eight members of a family were burnt to death following a fire outbreak in the midnight of Thursday, December 18, 2014 in their home located at Anyamkor area of Gboko East, Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State.
Among the victims was the head of the family who reportedly returned from a church programme in Osun state in the night of Wednesday, December 17, 2014 before the tragedy stuck the next day.
Oye who was a panel beater in the Gboko area of the state died alongside his wife, two daughters and three sons in the fire inferno.
The only survivor of the accident was the eldest son named David, who was staying with a pastor in a Gboko before the tragedy rocked their home and claimed his parents and siblings.
According to Punch, it was learnt that the family was a devoted Christian family. Neighbours said when the house was on fire in the midnight, they thought the family had gone to church, especially since there were no distress calls coming from the house.
One of the eyewitnesses who identified himself as Toryima, said that he saw the building on fire but didn’t know what to do about it because there was no fire sevice station in their area.
He wondered what could have caused the fire as there was no power supply in town when it started.
When contacted for comments on the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer in Benue, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Matthew Okwu, said he was yet to get informtion about the case from the Divisional Officer.
