Two children have died in a late-night fire that swept through a cluster of makeshift homes in the Rumuola area of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Rivers State.

The fire, which occurred around 10 p.m. on Sunday near the Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, destroyed the settlement and displaced about 27 families. Properties worth millions of naira were lost.

Sources said the blaze began in one of the rooms where a mother had reportedly left her four children locked inside while she stepped out to buy cooking ingredients. She was said to have left a stove burning.

A resident, identified simply as Edidiong, said two of the children were asleep while their older siblings were awake when the fire broke out.

“It is a gory sight. I’m standing beside the bodies of two children who lost their lives. Their bodies have been covered,” she said. “The fire started from the woman who lost her two children. She was cooking around 10 p.m. and left the stove on. When she returned, the entire place was on fire.”

She added that the older children attempted to rescue their younger siblings but were forced to flee due to the intensity of the fire. The victims were reportedly aged six and eight.

Fire service personnel eventually arrived and prevented the inferno from spreading further.

Spokesperson of the Rivers State Police Command, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the incident and the deaths. “From the situation report I received, the children were aged nine and five. We have begun an investigation to ascertain the cause of the fire. The mother has been invited for questioning as part of the investigation,” she said. (Vanguard)