Fire burns family of 7 to death

A family of seven were at the early hours of Friday, burnt to death in a mysterious inferno that engulfed their home at Ayankor, Gboko East, in Gboko local government area of Benue state.

Saturday Vanguard gathered from an eyewitness that the inferno which started at about 1am, engulfed the block of three flats, killing a man and his wife, Mr. And Mrs. Lawani Oye and their five children.

Lawani Oye was said to be a popular automobile panel beater in Gboko while his wife was also a known business woman in the neighborhood.

According to the eyewitness who preferred anonymity, the fire which started when everyone had gone asleep razed the entire block of flats, though other occupants of the building managed to escape.

According to her, “the fire started at about 1am in Mr. Oye’s flat when everyone in the neighborhood, including the victims of the inferno were asleep.

“It was his wife and mother of the dead children who we popularly call Mama Tunde, who raised the alarm that prompted other neighbors to rush out of their flats and after failing to fight the strange fire however managed to escape.

“Our pain about this tragic and unfortunate incident is that the same woman who died with her family in the fire was the one who raised the alarm that saved others. They were burnt beyond recognition.

“The whole thing is still a mystery to neighbors and no one can, at this moment, ascertain the cause of the inferno but the only clue we have is that their generator was on that night and by the time we went round after the fire, we saw that a lantern was positioned very close to the generating set.”