Eight-month-old baby dies in Benin inferno

Residents of Ewemade Street, off Benin-Sapele road, began the new year on a tragic note following the death of an eight-month-old baby who was said to have died in a fire outbreak in a building.
The incident was said to have occurred in the upper part of the building at about 11pm on New Year’s eve, when most of the residents had gone to church to attend the crossover service.
‎Although some of the occupants of the building were unclear about the cause of the fire, an eyewitness, who owns a shop in the affected building, said that the fire spread rapidly and also destroyed property worth millions of naira.
“It happened around 11pm yesterday (Wednesday), after everyone had gone to church‎.
“Few minutes after power was restored, because there no light, we were about to leave the‎ shop‎ when we heard people shouting, ‘Fire! Fire!’
“Before we knew it, it spread to other parts of the building, as if kerosene was added to it,” the eyewitness said.
It was, however‎, gathered that the fire officers were prevented from going into the building by the angry residents, who blamed them for their slow response.
An unconfirmed ‎source also disclosed that the body of the baby,who was found dead, had been deposited at a mortuary.
But when contacted, an official of the Edo State Fire Service, who identified himself as Mr. Anthony Osadolor‎, said that the fire service did not receive any call from the residents.
He also attributed the delay to inadequate fire trucks to cater for areas within the state capital.
‎”From the record I have here, there were fire incidents reported at Akpakpava and Sapele road. But I can’t confirm that someone died in the incident because they did not allow us to even get down out of our truck; they said we came late.
“It maybe that there were other fire occurrences at the same time they called. It is not our fault that we did not get there on time,” he said.