By Ugochukwu Alaribe

ABA — Residents of No. 35 Isiekenesi street, Aba, Abia State, would never forget the 14thDecember, 2016, as a kerosene dealer living in one of the rooms was allegedly mixing the product with another when it exploded and consumed the entire seven room apartment.

Property worth over N10 million were  lost  in the inferno  which occurred by 5.45am when most residents of the building were yet to wake up from their sleep.

South East Voice  gathered that a resident of the building  and her neighbour  was  allegedlymixing kerosene with another  substance  when it exploded  into flames  and  got one of them, heavily burnt.

The burnt building

An eyewitness told South East Voice  that  residents of the building  could not evacuate their properties due to the intensity of the fire, even as  several attempts by sympathizers to quench the fire were unsuccessful.

A group of irate youths of the area had  attacked men of  the Abia State Fire Service who raced to the scene when the fire had wrecked the building.  The youths also held journalists hostage on why they took pictures of the burnt building and interviewed the traumatized residents. However, peace was restored when a detachment of Policemen were deployed to the area.

Narrating his ordeal, a resident; who gave his name as Ede, said, “I was woken up by an alarm raised by neighbours that the building was on fire, but I  ran out to save my head, and  could not evacuate any property as all I had laboured for life was consumed in the inferno.

“I don’t know the cause of the fire because there was no electricity supply. What I was told was that one of our neighbours who deal on Kerosene was mixing it with another substance when it exploded and burst into fire which rent the whole apartment. We called the Fire Service People but before they, fire had destroyed the building.”

Another  resident identified as Gladys Ononiwu, was heavily burnt  and is still being treated  at an undisclosed hospital in the city.

Head of the Abia State Fire Service, Mr. Victor Gbaruko,  could not be reached, but a Fireman who was part of the rescue mission to the area, told South East Voice that the residents did not contact the service on time.