Man loses two relatives,including wife and his three children to fire

firstclassnewsline.net

Firstclass newsline learnt that the fire was said to have started
around 2 am immediately after electricity was restored from the public
electric supply.
The victims are 26-year old Habiba Ahmed, her three children, Dalhatu,
aged 6, Maryam 4 and one-year-old Fawaz. Others are Habiba's sister,
Rukayat 12 and maid, named Maryam aged 13.
There was suspicion that the victims died of suffocation as they could
not escape from the raging inferno.
The victims were given mass burial at the Zaria Road cemetery at about
12 noon on Saturday.
Firstclass newsline learnt that the fire started from an electric
surge and was aided by a gas cylinder, which exploded after the
inferno began.
The husband, Ahmed, was said to have left his family at about 4 pm on
Friday for a short trip to their home town of Lafia in Nasarawa State.
However he was recalled by his landlord, Umar Dauda, immediately the
incident occurred.
A distraught Ahmed rushed back to Jos oblivious of the fate that had
befallen his family.
A resident of the area, Yusuf, who shared a flat near that of the
deceased, told Firstclass Newsline that he was alerted by the loud
explosion of the gas cylinder. He said immediately the explosion
occurred the electricity in his own apartment went off.
Yusuf said that the prompt intervention of men of the Plateau State
fire service prevented the fire from spreading to other buildings.
He added, "I was told that the victims shouted for help, but nobody
came to alert us until the sound of the explosion."
Sobbing Ahmed who spoke at the burial site at the Zaria Road cemetery
said, "I was playing with them till 4 am yesterday (Friday) before I
left for Lafia. Now I have lost all.
Firstclassnewsline.net