- A 95-year-old woman, Omolayo Kolade, was on Saturday burnt to death in the Alapata area of Modakeke, Osun State, as fire razed her residence.
A 95-year-old woman, Omolayo Kolade, was on Saturday burnt to death in the Alapata area of Modakeke, Osun State, as fire razed her residence.
Two other occupants of the building were said to have escaped unhurt.
The Administrative Officer, Osun State Fire Service, Fatai Aremu, who confirmed the incident, told our correspondent that the one-storey building, where the deceased lived, was completely burnt by the fire, which was said to have started from Kolade’s room.
Aremu said the inferno resulted from a lantern that the deceased kept in her room, which spilled the kerosene and soaked the mattress.
According to him, the room caught fire while the deceased attempted to lit the lantern and the fire spread to the entire building.
He said, “The only victim of the incident was Omolayo Kolade, a 95-year-old woman. “But two other occupants of the building escaped unhurt.
“The estimated loss to the incident is put at around N10m, while properties saved by the joint effort of the Osun State Fire Service personnel and the OAU Fire Unit were worth N30m.
“From available information, the fire started from the old woman’s room through the spillage of adulterated kerosene from a lantern, which caught fire and set the entire house ablaze.”
He said men of the Osun State Fire Service Station, Lagere Unit, Ile-Ife, were joined by their colleagues from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, as well as residents of the area to extinguish the inferno.
