Fire kills year-old boy on Sallah eve

Residents of Kubwa, a suburb of Bwari Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were on Wednesday thrown into a sober mood when a one yearold boy was burnt to death.

Credible sources told City News that the incident occurred around 12noon, adding that the parents of the baby boy had gone to the market to purchase things in preparation for the Sallah celebration.

Mr. John Ojo, a neighbour to the bereaved parents told our reporter that the fire was lit by Mrs Ibrahim Isah, the boy’s mother.

He alleged that the mother left a container of kerosene close to the fire and went to the bathroom to take her bath when the boy pushed the kerosene on the fire, which flared up and started burning the boy.

“I was in my room watching television when it happened. At first, I heard the baby cackling when he was crawling and playing around. Then he started crying and stopped all of a sudden. That was when I sensed something was wrong.”

He explained that the boy, who happened to be the first and only child of the Isahs so far, got burnt before he could save him.

“When I heard the boy crying, I called his mum several times, but she kept telling me she was coming. It was when he suddenly stopped crying that I came out of my room and saw him lying dead. It was at that point I drew the attention of his mum. She appeared to be in shock and was gasping for breath when she saw her son burnt to death,” he added.

City News gathered that the baby boy was buried same day according to Islamic rites.

All efforts to speak to his parents proved abortive, as they were both in shock and disbelieve as at the time of filing this report.