Woman, 3 children burnt to death in Niger

A middle-aged woman and her three children have been reportedly burnt to death in their house in Nkangbe, a suburb of Minna, the Niger State capital.

However, another woman in the house, identified as Fati, and her two children were rescued with severe burns and currently in hospital on admission.

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The fire incident, according to an eyewitness account, started around 11.30 pm and lasted for over three hours, razing down the house completely.

The husband of the women affected by the fire, whose name was given as Baba Abba, was reported not to be at home when the incident happened as he works in Abuja and comes to town during weekends.

Men of the fire service, who responded to the distress call, were hampered by the jammed doors and window burglaries, which complicated the rescue efforts.

The cause of the fire could not be ascertained by neighbours ,who said they had no electricity supply for over two months, while the fire service was still working to identify the main cause.

One of the neighbours engaged in the rescue, who gave his name as Musa Ibrahim, said: “We tried as much as we could but we couldn’t get inside.

“With the help of the fire service, we rescued the second wife through the window, but she was wounded and had some burns.

“But unfortunately, the second woman and her children had died before we could get inside”.

One of the men of the fire service said: “We tried to help fight the fire.

“We met people trapped inside the house but were able to rescue only three people. “