5 Children Burnt To Death After Mother Delivers New Baby

Tragedy struck on Thursday night, in Kaduna State, when five children of the same parents were burnt to death in a domestic inferno.

The deceased, whose names were given as Sadiya (16), Ramat (11), Monsir (7), Khalid (9), and a fifth child aged 14, have since been buried according to Islamic rites.


It was gathered that the incident occurred when their two-bedroom apartment located in Faskari Street, Kakuri, was engulfed by fire suspected to have been caused by a candle. It emerged that efforts by neighbours to rescue the children, whose parents where away as of the time of the incident proved abortive. It was also learnt that parents of the children were at a private hospital in Kaduna, where their mother was delivered of a child a day before the incident.

Speaking amid sobs, the bereaved father, Mohammed Aminu Okene, said that he had earlier taken them to visit their mother in the hospital. Hear him: “Life is now meaningless to me, but I will only take solace in God. This is a terrible moment in my life, losing five children is the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I can’t even wish my enemy what I am going through presently. But Allah, who gives life, is the same one that takes life; He alone knows why He has taken them. I had a cordial relationship with my children; we lived happily together, and it is very difficult for me to forget them. Yesterday, I took them to visit their mother in the hospital, after undergoing a Caesarean Section. I prayed with my children in the hospital for Allah’s protection over them and their mother."

One of the victims died on the way to the hospital, while the other four died hours later in the hospital.