Photos: Three boys from same parents die in fire incident in Bayelsa

The three sons of Mr and Mrs Udoh were killed in
a fire incident at their home in Bayelsa on
January 14th. Narrating the sad incident to Daily
Sun , Udoh, who is a commercial motorcyclist,
said on the day of the incident, he had returned
from work and had asked his daughter to buy him
some drugs. He said his wife who sells food had
gone to the market to buy materials she needed
to make Suallu bean cake and pap, which she
sells to residents in the neighbourhood ...
He said after waiting for his daughter who did
not return on time, he decided to go and look for
her and left his three sons who were asleep at
home. Unfortunately, he locked them inside the
house, hoping to come back on time.
Not long after he left the house, neighbors
started shouting "Fire, Fire" and running to his
house. Before they could break open the door, the
boys had burnt to death. Preliminary investigation
by the police concluded that the fire incident was
caused by a lit candle, but residents of the area
held the contrary view that the fire was a
mystery.
One of the neighbours of the family, who gave
her name simply as Josephine, said nobody could
explain how the fire started because it burnt the
two rooms of the landlord before consuming the
house of the Udohs. According to her, the fire
was so intense that before people could rescue
the children, they had been burnt to death.
However, she noted that the children might have
been able to escape if the door was not locked
from outside.
The mother of the boys has remained
inconsolable since the incident happened. When
she was visited at her new apartment, she
couldn't speak at all. A relative of the Udoh's,
Victoria Dominic also narrated the sad incident.
She also believes that the fire incident was
mysterious.
“On Thursday around 8 pm, her husband
was in the house, she sells bean cake and
akamu. She went out to buy some
ingredients and collect her phone from
where she used to charge it because she
does not want to use lantern or candle
because of the kerosene in the house. From
there the husband went to check their first
daughter who was sent to buy drugs. It
was from there they heard shouts of fire
and when they got to the house and open
the door, the three boys inside had been
roasted to death. There was no way to
rescue them. They are in a terrible state
and they are in need of help. They have
nothing left. The husband’s motorcycle is
gone, and all their life savings are gone too.
The Apostolic church where we are
worshiping has been helping but people
need to come to their assistance and
provide the capital they need to start their
business again. People are donating clothes
to them. We appeal to the state
government and well meaning Bayelsans to
come to their aid,” she said.
The corpses of the dead sons were initially
deposited at the mortuary of the Federal Medical
Centre for autopsy and further investigations but
the bodies were later released to the family for
burial.