The 2014 Christmas celebration must have been the worst ever witnessed by the Ofomata family of Umuele Umudim, in Nnewi North Local Government Area of Anambra State as four siblings were roasted to death.
The fire whose source remained unknown had broken out on on Thursday, December 25, 2014 and left the family totally devastated by the degree of damages it caused.
It was learnt that the fire allegedly engulfed the three-bedroom apartment on the ground floor of a storey building where the deceased siblings resided with their parents.
Their mother, Mrs Chinemerem Ofomata had reportedly locked the three female children in the house to go and get her own share of rice which was a Christmas gift meant for the widows in the community.
Meanwhile, her husband who is a Vulcanizer earlier went out for work in the company of their two male children named Kosy,and Ebuka aged 8 and 5 years respectively.
The deceased siblings were identified as Chioma Ofomata, 6 , Goodness, and Mercy Ofomata who were twins, 3, and a 2-year-old Ifeoma Ofomata.
According to The Sun, the bereaved father, Mr. Anthony Ofomata, 57, said it was around 6PM on December 25, that he was returning home only to see crowd at his residence, which is isolated from other buildings and, according to him, it was only his family that occupied the entire building.
He said he saw flames and sympathisers struggling to destroy the doors and windows and the iron burglary proofs to rescue the four children in the midst of the raging fire to no avail.
Mr Ofomata further disclosed that he was not aware of his wife’s whereabout and also did not know that the children were locked inside.
Before people got to know about the incident,the fire had already spread all over the house and perhaps roasted the children as flames were seen coming out through the window.
Perhaps they cried for help but could not be heard before the fire consumed them.
A source disclosed that when the door was finally forced open, the roasted corpses of the children were seen together at one corner of the house where they probably ran for possible escape from the fire accident.
Mrs Ofomata who was arrested by the police stated that the reason behind her action was in order that the children would not move about unnecessarily adding that it was not the first time she was doing that.
However, she denied the claims that the rice she went to partake in the sharing was meant for just widows.
She said, “The rice was meant for everybody, not widows alone. If you like go and find out. I don’t know what caused the fire.”
The corpses of the victims were said to have been deposited in a near by mortuary while their mother is helping the police with investigation into the matter.
