Four members of a family of five in the Dinyavo area of Jalingo, Taraba state, in Nigeria, died tragically on Monday at about 11:00 a.m. after being allegedly electrocuted during a power surge.
The victims included a father, mother and two children, with the last born managing to escape unhurt.
A statement from the Police Command in Taraba, signed by Mr. Abdullahi Usman, PRO of the Command, confirmed the tragic incident.
“At about 11 a.m. on Monday, we were reliably informed that a house located in the Danyivoh area of Jalingo was on fire.
“Detectives from GRA Police Division were quickly deployed to the scene and, on arrival, found the four victims with burns suspected to be from electrocution.
“The victims are Remond Ofonbuk, 44, his wife, Mfonbong Remond, Hevean Remond, 15, and First Remond, 13 years old.
“We have received information indicating that immediately after power was restored, the transformer serving the area blew up.
“We learnt that many houses within the neighbourhood experienced high electric voltage which might have led to the fire outbreak that inflicted burns on the victims.
“Our detectives quickly evacuated the victims to the Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo, for treatment but they were confirmed dead on arrival,” he said.
Usman said that the corpses had been deposited at the hospital’s mortuary for autopsy while an investigation had commenced to ascertain the real cause of the incident.
A report by Channels Television, whose reporters went to the scene, suggested that a high voltage supply from the national grid triggered the incident.
The report said eyewitnesses who attempted to rescue the victims were unable to save the victims because the door leading to the room was locked from the inside and before they could disconnect the power supply and break through the windows to rescue them, it was too late.
One of the eyewitnesses, Mr Jerry Jonah, said, “This morning, there was a burst from the transformer. Everyone ran out and smoke followed suit. A few seconds later, everyone started shouting and before we knew it, a lot of houses were engulfed in smoke.
“I tried my best to rescue them, all to no avail because they locked themselves in. But when we succeeded in breaking the door, we realised that they were already electrocuted and that their neighbours were also shocked by the electricity supply and rushed them to the hospital.”
A neighbour of the victims, Mrs. Nathan Daniel, narrated that when they realised that there was a spark from the transformer, they were informed to switch off their gas cylinders but never knew their neighbours were inside their rooms.
“I saw the last born outside crying, ‘My mummy, my mummy!’ Then I checked and saw smoke and fire inside the first room and called for assistance,” she said.
“Unfortunately, the door was locked, which prompted us to break the windows to discover that they were already electrocuted with some parts of their body burnt.”
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has extended condolences to the family members and the community affected by the terrible loss.
The Commission said it had reached out to the licensee, Yola Electricity Distribution Plc, and their executive management is investigating the incident.
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