BY TIMOTHY AGBOR
Four members of a family of five in Taraba State have died after being electrocuted in the Dinyavo area of Jalingo, the state capital.
The father, mother and two children were in their home when the electrocution occurred on Monday.
Some residents of the community said they suspected that the electrocution was as a result of a high voltage supply from the national grid.
According to a resident who witnessed the incident, “There was an explosion from the transformer. Everyone ran out and smoke followed suit. A few seconds later, everyone started shouting and before we knew it, a lot of houses were engulfed in smoke.
“I tried my best to rescue them, all to no avail because they locked themselves in their house. But when we succeeded in breaking the door, we realised that they were already electrocuted and that their neighbours rushed them to the hospital but they didn’t make it.”
The Police Command in Taraba on Monday also confirmed the electrocution of a family of four around Dinyavo area of Jalingo.
The command’s Public Relations Officer, Abdullahi Usman confirmed the incident in a statement in Jalingo.
According to him, the incident happened around 11:00 a.m. on Monday.
“We suspect it resulted from a power surge.
“At about 11:00 a.m. on Monday, we were reliably informed that a house located in the Dinyavoh area of Jalingo was on fire.
“Detectives from GRA Police Division were quickly deployed to the scene and, on arrival, found the four victims with burns suspected to be from electrocution.
“The victims are Remond Ofonbuk, 44, his wife, Mfonbong Remond, Hevean Remond, 15, and First Remond, 13 years old.
“We have received information indicating that immediately power was restored, the transformer serving the area blew up.
“We learnt that many houses within the neighbourhood experienced high electric voltage which might have led to the fire outbreak that inflicted burns on the victims.
“Our detectives quickly evacuated the victims to Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo for treatment but they were confirmed dead on arrival,” he said.
Usman added that the corpses had been deposited at the hospital’s mortuary for autopsy while investigation had commenced to ascertain the real cause of the incident.
