An explosion, suspected to be caused by adulterated kerosene, weekend claimed the lives of a 45-year-old man, his two male children and an in-law, in Ikot Ekpo community of 8 miles, Calabar, the Cross River state capital.
The name of the man was given as Esuabana Thomas Okon, while his two children that also died are Okon Esua Thomas, 14, and Edet Esua Thomas, 12. His in-law, Mathias, also died in the incident.
Esuabana’s wife and daughter however survived the inferno. They were indigenes of Ukwa Eburutu in Odukpani local government of the state.
In an interview, the landlord, Efiom Offiong Efanga, said he was not at home when the incident happened as he was yet to pack into his part of the apartment yet to be completed, adding that an eyewitness drew his attention to the development about 10 pm.
“I had a call about a minute to 10p.m. that there was a fire outbreak in my compound; so I had to rush down. By the time I got here, the neighbours had succeeded in putting out the fire, but they did not know initially that people had actually been burnt inside because it seems there were no screams.
“It was after the fire was extinguished that we discovered three persons were already dead. Another victim, who was also fatally burnt, was rushed to the hospital, but he gave up the ghost on the way and so his dead body was brought back. The only survivor among the children is the daughter. I met her in that church close to my compound. She was very frightened.
“She told me that the mum asked the elderly brother to refuel the lantern but the boy refused and went inside. After some minutes, the mum decided to send her to refuel the lantern and that as soon as she poured the kerosene into the already lit but dim lantern, there was a huge explosion. She threw the lantern away and ran out. She said, the mother was outside easing herself when the explosion occurred.”
Also speaking, a relative of the Esuabanas, Mr. Samuel Inyang, who said the explosion happened at about 9.30pm described the incident as mysterious, saying, “The incident happened in the kitchen. The four persons who died were in the room, but we cannot explain why they could not run out of the door. How can our kerosene be exploding like bombs?
“It is a mystery that the door was opened, but our brother and his children and in-law could not escape. The fire incident started in the kitchen, not the room, and they had every opportunity to have escaped but they could not. It is a mystery.”
