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.”

ChatGPT

World

Canadian province sues OpenAI over ChatGPT’s role in mass shooting

British Columbia has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, over the Tumbler Ridge school shooter’s interactions with ChatGPT.

Usman Ibrahim wanted

Kano

Police declare criminal suspect Usman Ibrahim wanted

The office of the assistant inspector-general of police, Zone 1, Kano, has declared Usman Ibrahim a wanted suspect in an alleged criminal conspiracy.

ex-convict

Abuja

Abuja ex-convict nabbed in Maitama for attempted car theft

The suspect had previous arrest records in two separate car theft incidents in Garki and Zuba divisions and had served time before being released from Keffi Prison last April.

Sirajo Jaja

Anti-Corruption

How Bauchi accountant-general transferred funds to private company: Witness

Williams Abimbola, a compliance officer with United Bank for Africa, has testified in the ongoing trial of Bauchi’s accountant-general, Sirajo Jaja.

alleged Lakurawa terrorists

States

Troops capture alleged Lakurawa terrorists in Sokoto, free 23 hostages

Troops of Fansan Yamma say they rescued 23 kidnapped victims and foiled terrorist attacks in separate operations across Sokoto.

Abuja

TCN to shut Kukwaba transmission substation for six-hour maintenance

The Transmission Company of Nigeria has announced a six-hour maintenance exercise at its 132/33kV Kukwaba Transmission Substation in Abuja on Tuesday.