The Taraba State Police Command on Monday confirmed the electrocution of a family of four around Dinyavo area of Jalingo, the state capital.
The command’s Public Relations Officer, Mr 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,” he said.
“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 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 stated.
A neighbour, Boniface Musa said, “I was sitting in front of my apartment when my 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. I saw the last child of the family outside shouting my mummy, my mummy! and their apartment burning.
“We broke into their apartment and gained access to the room, that was when we saw their lifeless body on the floor.”
According to the police statement, the remains of the deceased have been deposited at the Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo for autopsy while investigation is on to ascertain the actual cause of the incident.