The Taraba State Police Command has confirmed the electrocution of a family of four at Dinyavo area of Jalingo.
The victims are Remond Ofonbuk, 44; his wife, Mfonbong Remond; Heaven Remond, 15; and First Remond, 13-year-old.
According to the command’s spokesperson, Mr Abdullahi Usman, the incident happened at about 11am on Monday; saying, it was suspected to result from a power surge.
“At about 11:00 a.m. on Monday, we were reliably informed that a house located at Dinyavoh area of Jalingo was on fire. Detectives from GRA Police Division who were deployed to the scene found the four victims with burns suspected to be from electrocution.
“We have received information indicating that immediately power was restored, the transformer serving the area blew up and we also 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.
While the detectives evacuated the victims to Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo for treatment, they were confirmed dead on arrival.
Narrating what happened, a neighbour, Boniface Musa said he was sitting in front of his apartment when his neighbour started shouting ‘fire, fire ’fire’.
“When I turned, I saw that the transformer in our area caught fire. I quickly turn off electronic appliances and my gas cooker. I didn’t know my neighbours were inside. Then I saw the last child of the family outside shouting my mummy, my mummy! while their apartment burning. We broke into the apartment and saw them on the floor.”
The police said that the remains of the deceased have been deposited at the Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo for autopsy while investigation into the actual cause of the incident has commenced.
