Four children of the same parents and their mother were, Wednesday night burnt to death in an inferno that gutted their apartment at Tanke area of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
Their father and the surviving child were not at home when the fire broke out.
While the child was hospitalised for an undisclosed ailment at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, their father was out on errand for the family.
Their residence is situated at Ifesowapo community, behind “F” Division Police Station, Tanke, Ilorin, Kwara State capital.
Tanke, Fate, Oke-odo areas of Ilorin where the deceased lived had been in darkness for a week following a rainstorm that damaged electric poles in the areas.
It was gathered that the tragedy occurred after the candlelight the family put on burnt out and started burning items in the room while they were fast asleep.
The fire which burnt all domestic items in the room, spread to the room where the mother and her children were sleeping and burnt them to death.
Vanguard also gathered that though men of the state fire service were said to have rushed to the scene when they received distress call, the damage had been done before their arrival.
Chairman of Ifesowapo Community, Awodun Yinka, who spoke with journalists at the scene of the incident, said: “We didn’t know about the tragedy on time. By the time we saw the smoke and rushed to the apartment to see what was happening, thick smoke had already enveloped the apartment and we could not rescue any member of the family. It was then we made the distress calls to the office of the state fire service but by time the they arrived, the havoc had been done.”
He confirmed that the tragedy was caused by the candlelight, which spread across the room while the family was already asleep.
He said: “The inferno was not caused by power surge. The whole Tanke area has been on blackout for past few days due to the rainstorm that damaged some electric poles.”
