2 kids burnt to death in Ipaja fire

Two siblings have been killed in a fire incident which was suspected to have been caused by a candle in Ipaja area, on Tuesday.

The victims, five-year-old Rokibat, and three-year-old Amirat, were burnt to death at their parents’ house in Ifelodun Close, Ajasa Command.

It was learnt that their mother, during the fire outbreak, hurriedly took two of their siblings to safety and had returned too late as the gate was already jammed

Lagos Metro was told that the Lagos State Fire Service received the alert late and had difficultly in locating the area, as the sympathisers had put out the fire before the Fire Service officers arrived.

The corpses were said to have been taken away by their relatives.

One of the tenants said that the fire started at about 12:00 a.m. “I don’t really know how it happened, but at 12:00 a.m., my wife raised the alarm while I was asleep, that our neighbour’s apartment was on fire. By the time we got there, we discovered that it had taken over the whole room.

“We later heard that one of the children screamed and told his mother and three siblings that there was fire outbreak. That was how the mother took him and the last born to safety. As at the time she came back to rescue the other two girls who were still asleep, she discovered that the door could no longer open. The sympathisers had to pull her back when they saw that the fire was much. At this time, the two girls were already burnt to death,” he said.

A resident said that some hoodlums took advantage of the incident to loot people’s valuables, stating that three of his phones were stolen.

Director of the Lagos State Fire Service, Rasak Fadipe, confirmed the fire accident. He said the agency was not able to locate the place on time and the residents were,  as a result, angry and became aggressive towards the fire fighters.

“A bungalow building with three bedroom and two bedroom flats were affected by the fire. The problem was that we were not reached on time. When we investigated, we discovered that there has not been light in the area for some days. Residents said that the fire was caused by a candle that was lit which I think the woman did not remember to put off,” he added.