Five children were reportedly burnt to death in Abuja after an inferno, triggered by sparks on electric cables, gutted their apartment.
The incident was said to have occurred on Saturday, April 1, in Mpape community, in the Bwari area of the Federal Capital Territory.
It was gathered that the sparks on electricity cables in the area started when the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) restored power.
According to residents, the children were trapped in the house. They said they could not save them because there was no water in the community.
"We rushed to see how we could put out the fire, but before we could do that, the five children were already dead," the district head of the community, Alhaji Abubakar Gimba, was quoted as saying.
The spokesman for the AEDC, Ahmed Shekarau, said some officials of the company went to the area to ascertain the cause of the fire after a resident informed the company of the incident.
"At the moment, we have sent our team to investigate and they have yet to report back to us. Yes, some people said the fire started after power was restored, but others said the fire started from the generator,"Shekarau told Punch.
"It was just this morning that our attention was called to it by a resident of the community who attended a safety sensitisation campaign we organised last week.
"We are surprised they just told us. When we get a preliminary report, and it shows it has something to do with electricity, we will have to set up another committee to find out why it happened," he added.
It was not clear where their parents were at the time of the incident.
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