How 80-year-old man lost 7 children, wife

Double tragedy struck in the early hours of Friday last week when an 80-year-old man, Pa Sylvanus Nwefuru lost his wife and seven children in an early morning mysterious fire at Ohufu village, Ogboji community in Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.  

On the same day, 16 shops were completely razed by fire, this time  in Abakaliki, the state capital.

Daily Sun gathered that Nwefuru and his only surviving daughter, Ukamaka, were the only people who survived the inferno when the two thatched houses they were  sleeping in were gutted by mysterious fire in the early hours of Friday, resulting in the deaths of the eight members of the family.

Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State, Dr. Kelechi Igwe expressed dismay over the level of destruction of lives and property in the community and said the state government will look into the matter to ascertain the true cause of the incident.

Also, property worth millions of naira were razed to ashes in a fire outbreak where over 16 shops with goods and property worth millions at an electrical section of Abakpa Main Market in Abakaliki were gutted by fire.

It was gathered that the fire, which started about 3:00 am yesterday, had destroyed 16 shops and warehouses including a shop belonging to Mr. Aaron Onuora, a journalist with Anambra State newspaper, National Light whose shop worth over N6 million were completely razed.

The electrical shops destroyed were filled with assorted goods such as computers, television, generator sets, sterilizers, and curtain shops with bundles of curtains, wheelbarrows and other items.

One of the victims of the fire, Mr Stanley Ngwu expressed shock over the fire outbreak, adding that there was no electricity connection and neigbours had confirmed that there was no power supply at the time of the incident.

“I don’t understand where the fire came from when there is no power supply in this line that could raze goods and people’s property beyond recognition.

“People were able to recue few, I lost most of my curtains in bundles, rods, curtain rays and other items, I need to check,” he lament.

Speaking when he visited the scene of the fire incident in Abakaliki, the Deputy Governor of the state, Dr. Kelechi Igwe sympathized with the victims of the fire incident and expressed that concern over the re-occurrence of fire incidents in the state and called on the residents of the state to be more careful.