Expdonaloaded News; Couple loses 3 kids in Lagos fire disaster

Three children of same parents yesterday died in a fire in­cident at the LSDPC area of Jakande Estate, Oke-Afa, Isolo in Lagos State. The children, aged between six and 12; Christiana, Pelumi and Feranmi, were said to have lost their lives in the inferno which occurred around 3am Friday.
According to eyewitnesses’ account, the fire started following a headon collision between an L300 bus loaded with fuel and a commuter bus parked in front of a stretch of shops at Mechanic Village by Pink Street on Bungalow road, LSDPC Estate, Oke- Afa, Isolo.

The collision, they said, triggered the blast that engulfed three cars, more than 10 shops and a residence, killing the three girls.
The girls, children of the same mother, were said to have been sleeping in one of the shops. There were conflicting reports on the exact reason the kids were left alone overnight in the shop by their mother, who is popularly called Mama Faranmi.
Some said she went for a church programme. Others said she had left them there to go and stay elsewhere following a conflict with her husband. Her neighbours claimed that leaving the chil­dren in the shop to go sleep outside was a regular occurrence.
On hearing of the fire outbreak, she had to run back to the shop and raised the alarm that her kids were trapped in the shop. Un­fortunately, it was too late. The efforts of residents and firefighters proved abortive as the children had already been burnt to death.
The charred bodies of the kids were later removed from the scene. Efforts to speak with Mama Faranmi proved abortive, but Saturday Sun learnt that she is the owner of the property and ran two shops – a salon and provision store – in the line-up. The kids were sleeping in the salon when the incident occurred.
Neighbours blamed the incident on the indiscriminate chase of the L300 bus by the police. According to them, in the bid to escape the police, the driver of the bus incidentally ran into the stationary bus packed beside the road.
Another victim, known as Joy, said she was lucky to have been woken up by the shouts of her son who was dreaming that his mother was dying, only to realise that the whole house was en­gulfed by fire. They narrowly escaped but lost all their belongings to the inferno.
Mama Faranmi was not the only one who lost properties, a shop owner and neighbour, Madam Beauty, wailed uncontrolla­bly over the loss of her property worth over N2 million. Other shop owners were seen picking what was left of the rubble and unwilling to speak.
According to another eyewitness and a resident of the house situated at 14, Rainbow Avenue, Bungalow Estate, Oke Afa, who simply identified himself as Onyepandu: “The fire started after a big bang around 3:30am. I ran outside after I heard it. It was a big fire. I raised alarm and the whole compound woke. When I ran outside, I saw some policemen making calls with their vehicle close to the house. I scampered for help and people rushed out.”
The shop where the three children: Christiana, Feranmi and Pelu­mi, lost their lives had a sign board, GOD WITH ME SALON. It has two chambers with heavy protectors at the entrance. The fist cham­ber was used for business while the second chamber as residence. It was gathered that the children would have been saved the first responder had the information that they were there. One of the first responders, Mr. Apostle John said that no­body had the idea that children were sleeping in the room. “If we knew they were there, we would have saved them. The fire might have been much but risk would have been taken to save their lives first before the property,” he stated.
The Director of Lagos State Fire Service, Mr. Razaq Fadipe said his office was alerted at 04:03am and they were at the scene eight minutes later. “I sent Isolo Command to respond first; when they got to the scene, they gave a report that it was a huge fire and I sent Ikotun Command to complement them. When we got to the scene, we started to fight the fire from inside the house. The shops had been razed but we tried to save the rooms in the house.”
He corroborated what the residents said that they had no knowledge of the children. “It was when we tried to totally quench the fire that we saw the children lying dead. We went in through the rear of the room where we saw smoke puffing out of the room. With fear that the fire might restart, we went in and saw the children.”
Another victim, Mrs. Beauty, who owns a cosmetic shop, said she lost about N 1 million to the inferno, stressing: “I did not pick a pin out of the shop. This is unfair. I have lost everything.”
Representing Lagos State governor, Akinwumi Ambode, at the scene, Mr. Michael Ola Daudu, Permanent Secretary, Dep­uty Governor’s Office, condoled with the parents of the children and promised that the government will thoroughly investigate the alleged police involvement in the incident. He also advised the residents to always alert authorities if they have suspicion of illegal hoarding of combustible liquid like fuel. “These are things that can cause fire and lead to another loss of properties.” To the police, he said: “If it’s true that the police are involved in this situation, the police should be careful when chasing miscre­ants. They should know that people’s lives are involved, if they are chasing a vehicle and the vehicle proves stubborn, they can just pencil down the number plate, then track them.”