By Ike Uchechukwu, Calabar

Amid  downpour in Calabar, Cross River State capital, no fewer than three houses were, in the early hours of yesterday, razed  by fire. It happened in Ephraim Street, Calabar South.

Sunday Vanguard  learned that the fire, which started at about 3:45am, was due to an electrical fault. It  began from 60 (a) Ephraim Street before spreading to other buildings in the same compound.

The landlord of one of the affected houses, Mr. Monday Umoh, told  Sunday Vanguard that it happened so fast that he thought it was  a spiritual attack and he did not get a pin out of the house.

He words:” I don’t know what else do to because I  lost everything in this disaster; it was already morning because I could hear the cock crow. All of a sudden I saw thick smoke entering my room. At first I thought it was a small thing; it was when I stood up that I discovered that the smoke was coming from the ceiling. That was when I started shouting for help.

“Meanwhile, my neighbour who works with the Fire Service  called them immediately and it didn’t take 25minutes before they arrived. But as you can see for yourself, nothing was salvaged, we lost everything. All my credentials are gone.

“I came out with just these boxers, my phone and my eye glasses; my international  passport is gone”.