Mr. and Mrs. Terhemba Makka and their two-year-old baby were on Tuesday burnt to death at Katsina-Ala Street in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
An eyewitness, Uche Nnorom, told NAN that the fire started at about 2am, when the Power Holding Company of Nigeria restored electricity to the area.
Nnorom said: “We heard a loud bang and shortly afterward the shout of fire coming from the house, while someone was screaming for help.
“The flame and smoke was too much and the house has only one entrance door with burglar proof on the windows and the door.
“This made it difficult for anyone to gain entrance into the house for rescue mission.”
He said that some youths, however, made efforts to put out the fire by breaking open a portion of the house, but could only rescue the deceased’s nine-year-old son, Aondongu.
The eyewitness told NAN that the boy was immediately rushed to Bishop Murray Medical Centre, Makurdi, for immediate treatment.
He said that the entire house had been completely gutted before the arrival of men of the Fire Service at the scene.
Another eyewitness, who simply identified himself as Tavershima, decried the attitude of the officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps, who also visited the scene of the incident.
According to him, the FRSC officers refused to convey the corpses to the mortuary on the excuse that they had no hand gloves and stretcher.
NAN gathered that Makka, who was a senior member of the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers, had lost his first wife earlier in the year.
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