Never
in the wildest imagination could Peter Opara had envisaged the tragedy
that befell him and members of his family last Sunday.
The
father of one, who occupied a one-room apartment at 9 Ogundade Street,
Ejigbo area of Lagos, returned earlier that day from church with his
family.
After
taking their evening meal of boiled rice and stew, the family, as
gathered, settled to watch the television, when, all of a sudden, there
was power failure.
Mr
Opara was said to have gone to put on their generator placed close to
their room. Time was 11 p.m. The entire famiy then slept off, hoping to
switch off the generator by midnight. Soon thereafter, the generator
exploded, setting the house on fire.
While
other neighbors, most of whom were jolted from sleep, scampered in
different directions for safety, the fire raged , spreading to other
apartments. Just then, one of
them shouted, “What about Mama Opara?” They reportedly looked round but did not see any member of the Opara family.
As
if responding to the question, shouts for help were heard from the
Opara apartment. But no one could go for help as thick smoke had covered
the veranda. An attempt by a rescuer proved abortive as he was almost
chocked.
The shouts for help, as gathered, continued but, at a point, they became faint and then stopped outright.
The
fire reportedly raged till the following day without fire servicemen
coming to the family’s rescue. The neighbours reportedly battled hard
to put out the fire, to no avail.
Policemen
from Ejigbo division visited the scene the next day, where the charred
remains of Peter Opara, his wife, Ebere, and their two-year-old baby
were evacuated to the Isolo General Hospital mortuary.
When Sunday Vanguard visited the scene, properties of the deceased family littered the house.
Although
the police said they were investigating the cause of the fire, one of
the tenants, who did not want his name in print, said, “The fire was
caused by their power generating set which was close to their room .
That
night, all I heard was an explosion, the cause of which no one could
tell. When one of us ran out to see what the problem was, he saw it was
fire. And you know how it is with petrol. Immediately the whole place
was engulfed . I quickly rushed in, carried two of my children who were
asleep and rushed out, calling my wife to wake up.
“When
I got outside, I saw some of our neighbors. You see these properties,
they were brought out by some of us who managed to go in . Some people
even joined us to salvage some of the properties. It is just unfortunate
that Peter and his family are gone. We did not know they were trapped
inside because, you know, at that point, it was every man for himself
and God for all.”
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