A five-year-old girl, Miracle Uwa, has died in the Holy Wounds Hospital, Aba from severe burns from a kerosene explosion in her home.
The explosion occurred on Monday.
An eye-witness and neighbour to the Uwa family, Mrs Nwaoma Ndubuisi, said that the girl was beside her mother, Mercy, where she was lighting a kerosene lantern.
“When Mercy added kerosene that someone bought for her to the lamp, it blew up in her face.
“Mercy’s face was burnt to her chest area and to parts of her laps; Miracle, her daughter was severely burnt from face down to her toes as she was stooping by her mother,’’ she said.
Ndubuisi said that the cry of Mercy, summoned the co-tenants to rescue them and take them to the hospital.
The father of the deceased, Mr Ihemere Uwa, an industrialist in Ariaria Market, said that he received a call at about 6 p.m. on Monday to come home.
“I was told that my house was on fire but on reaching home, it had been controlled and when l asked my wife what happened, she said that they caught fire as she was filling a lamp with kerosene. That is the much I heard,’’ he said.
Mrs Joy Joseph also narrated how her ward, Gift Monday, was burnt by the adulterated kerosene on Friday.
“Because l am sick with my other children, Gift, 12, was left to take care of things in the house. So, on Thursday, l sent her to buy kerosene but because there was electricity, we cooked with electric stove to save the kerosene.
“But on Friday, Gift was lighting the stove when it exploded and she caught fire and was burnt. We have been buying kerosene from the same seller,’’ she said.
Both the seller of the kerosene and the owner of the filling station where he made his purchase are being detained by the police.
The Public Relations Officer of the Abia police command, Mr Nta Ogbonnaya, confirmed the incident, saying that investigation was ongoing.
