A family of four, in the early hours of Monday, perished at their Kwararafa Quarters in Makurdi metropolis of Benue State.
The incident involved a senior official in the employ of the Benue State government, Serker Akaa, his wife and two children. The deceased, until his death, was an acting Permanent Secretary in the state’s Ministry of Energy, Science and Technology.
Witnesses said that the fire, suspected to have been caused by electrical surge, started at about 2:20am from the living room and spread to the other three adjourning flats.
An occupant of one of the three other affected flats and Chaplain of the Government House Chapel of Grace, Rev. Daniel Unongo, told journalists that he was awake at 2:45am when he heard the deceased’s wife and children crying for help.
Unongo explained that the four occupants of the house died before the arrival of the Fire Service, even as it took the fire fighters another 30 minutes to break down the door. The government house chaplain added that through the period of the fire, the late permanent secretary’s voice was not heard as he assumed that the man may have died earlier from the roof which collapsed on him, considering the position he was discovered when the fire was finally put off.
Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO), Catherine Anene, who confirmed the incident, said the cause of the fire was yet unknown.
Anene said the corpse of the deceased government official and three of his family members were recovered by the police and deposited at a hospital morgue. Governor Samuel Ortom has expressed deep sadness over the death of Seker Akaa, his wife and two children.
-Goodluck Success