Two residents, Bashirat Rauf, a mother of two and Sodiq Saka of Araromi Quarters in Ketu, Lagos State, were both electrocuted when fire engulfed a school nearby.
Bashirat Rauf was said to have rushed out of her apartment when she saw fire burning from a cable in a nearby school. She reportedly decided to quickly pick her children who were playing outside in order to avoid being engulfed by the fire unfortunately, she got electrocuted in the process.
Meanwhile, 33 year old plank seller, Sodiq Saka, was said to have gone to fetch water to put off the fire in the school premises when he saw flame coming out of their compound and he got electrocuted in the process. According to Mr. Saka Imam, The father of late Sodiq,“
As a Muslim, I have accepted my fate. There is nothing I could do to bring the dead back to life. “We were to gather on that fateful day. He was the one who slaughtered the Sallah ram he bought for me.After that, he told me he was coming to get something down the street, only for someone to come and call me that my son had been electrocuted in the neighborhood.I was told by some witnesses at the scene of the incident that my son only went into the compound of the school premises where it was burning to assist the owner of the house, only for him to be electrocuted by the falling cable. Sodiq was said to had stepped on the naked cable while trying to put off the fire. What else do I do, I cannot give birth to a grown up boy like him.”
The Secretary of Araromi Community Development Association, Mr.Wahab Awoyemi, described the incident as a very sad one for the residents of Araromi community. He said:
“It was very sad for us to loose two persons in a day.The woman was in her apartment that fateful day preparing meal, when information got to her that the school near their apartment was burning. She rushed out to pick her children who were playing outside their compound and stepped on the naked cable. She was electrocuted immediately.“We made serious effort to rescue both of them. We went to Eko distribution company office at mile 12 to switch off the light.The person who was supposed to switch off the power was said not be on duty. But with providence, they took off the power. It was after then we were able to remove them from the burning cable and took them to a private hospital in the community where they were later pronounced dead by the medical doctor of the hospital.”“Before the ugly incident, we called on Eko Disco officials to come fix the cable before it will kill someone in the community. They did not come until two lives were consumed. We want government to come to our aid in the community.Vanguard
