by Christiana Gokyo, Jos
Residents of Kabong, in Jos North Local Government Area, have been thrown into mourning, following a high voltage explosion from a transformer of Jos Electricity Distribution, triggering ferocious fire that quickly engulfed the vicinity.
The incident, which was said to have started at about 3am, led to the death of about 10 people. Earlier on, it was (7) seven people that were reportedly dead by the incident, but later among those taken to the hospital, three (3) later died.
Our correspondent learned that, the fire incident happened on Saturday morning, between 3am and 4am.
A Rev Fr, whose family house is at Kabong, said the fire incident affected part of his family house and part of the Father’s House of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, including many houses, shops and properties that worth millions of naira.
“With the hardship people are facing today, who will compensate the people who lost their loved ones and property – is it the government or the Power Holding Company (NEPA)?,” he lamented.
Our correspondent reports that, families and sympathizers were being witnessed by the Kabong community across the neighboring settlement and passers-by.
It was gathered that, the wires connecting the high tension cable was said to have cut off and landed on a neutral cable, which immediately sparked off fire that resulted in heavy inferno assumed to have spread to private houses of over a 100 residents.
At the time of the incident, most of the people were still on bed, living many families scrambling for their safety.
A family had two of their children dead; a senior and a junior brother were among those that met their Waterloo, as the fire from the sparked cables connected their door, blocking the entire room with smoke.
Report has it that, following the incident and with the confusion among the community, one of the deceased family member was blaming NEPA, and Jos Distribution Company (DISCO), for unstable power supply and the manner that sometimes they take the light and bring it when people are sleeping – which has led to present damage and disaster experienced.
“The way and manner NEPA are returning light is so worrisome; sometimes, we spend two-to-three days without power,” a community resident retorted.
Some of the victims said there are many victims of the inferno in hospitals where they rushed them for treatment, but the doctors confirmed seven (7) dead people, which are bodies already deposited in mortuary.
They appealed to the appropriate authorities to take action to curtail incident of high voltage and ensure that NEPA checks all connections before releasing power supply.