Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Family loses all three children to unknown fire outbreak in Benue

The father said the fire had “surged covering the whole room where my kids were sleeping” and had burnt his face trying to save them.

• December 17, 2021
Burning building
A raging inferno on a building used to illustrate the story

The Benue Police Command on Friday confirmed the deaths of three children from a fire disaster in Otukpo, Otukpo LGA of the state.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Sewuese Anene, made the confirmation on Friday in Makurdi.

An eyewitness who spoke on condition of anonymity said the accident occurred in a two-bedroom flat of Jesus College Quarters, home of the father of the victims, Ochoche Ode, at around 1:00 a.m.

According to Mr Ode, the fire was noticed midnight on Friday by his wife’s younger sister who perceived the smell that something was burning while three of his kids were asleep.

He said that he was in one of the rooms with his wife when they were alerted of the incident.

“As I was about going to find out what was happening, the fire surged covering the whole room where my kids were sleeping and in an attempt to force myself into the room to rescue the children; my face got badly burnt.

“All attempts by neighbours to quell the fire failed and all my three children were burnt to death,” Mr Ode said, with the cause of the fire still unknown. 

(NAN)

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

farmers

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Kashim Shettima

Africa

Nigeria advises African leaders to stop exporting continent’s mineral wealth

Vice-President Kashim Shettima has urged African countries to stop exporting Africa’s mineral wealth and turn it into jobs and industrial growth.

suspects

States

Police nab four suspects for alleged child trafficking in Abia

Ms Chinaka said the suspects allegedly conspired to steal a four-day-old baby from her mentally unstable mother. 

Peter Mbah

Agriculture

Enugu hires over 160 professionals to revive livestock production

Mr Ubru said the recruitment was in fulfilment of Governor Peter Mbah’s vision to revamp the agricultural sector.

Caleb Mutfwang

Heading 2

Plateau government disburses N1.5 billion intervention funds to attack victims

Governor Caleb Mutfwang formally inaugurated the disbursement of the funds on Monday in Jos.

Nyesom Wike

Heading 5

Don’t destroy APC like you did PDP, group warns Wike

Mr Wike has insisted that his major political priority remained securing the re-election of Mr Tinubu in 2027.