No fewer than three persons, including two children, have been killed by a gas explosion at 32, Osazuwa Street, along Agbor road, in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State.
Ten other persons were also said to have been injured in the fatal incident that occurred at about 7am on Sunday.
The deceased were identified as 11-year-old Favour Okotie and Odion Okotie, aged two, and one Augustine, also known as Ebo.
The remains of the deceased were said to have been deposited in a morgue while some of the victims, including the mother of the deceased children, were taken to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital and a private hospital in the area.
It was gathered that tragedy struck when a gas cylinder kept in one of the rooms exploded, when most of the tenants were preparing for Sunday service.
One of the victims, Ese Egharevba, whose husband, Bello, also suffered severe burns, told our correspondent on Monday that he (Bello) had raised the alarm, warning his neighbours not to light a match when the gas emission began to spread.
Egharevba explained, “I was standing with a woman and some men when we heard an explosion. My husband rushed out asking what had happened; he ran to the last room close to our kitchen and saw that it was a gas explosion. He warned everyone not to light a match.”
She stated that the passage within the building, however, burst into flames when one of the deceased victims opened the door of one of the rooms, where a stove was said to be lit.
A source said that the gas cylinder had fallen from the hands of one of the neighbours before it began to leak.
But another victim, who identified himself as Christian Imuale, said that it did not belong to any of the tenants in the building.
The 30-year-old teacher who recently rounded off his National Youth Service Corps programme, explained, “Someone kept a (gas) cylinder in one of our neighbours’ rooms; it was a new cylinder. At about some minutes past seven (in the morning), it burst.
“We began to warn everybody not to light match in the house. About 10 or 20 minutes when I went to the bathroom to take my bath, there was an explosion and the fired affected me.
“Somebody put it in my neighbour’s room, it did not belong to anybody in the compound. I am teacher for now; I just finished my youth service programme.”
But an eyewitness, Faith Owobu, who said that one of the deceased had a pregnant wife.
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