A mosquito coil left burning overnight has been identified as the cause of a tragic house fire that claimed the lives of four family members in Kano on Wednesday.
The incident occurred around 4:13 a.m. at Kundila, Layin Baba Impossible in Tarauni Local Government Area.
The Kano State Fire Service said it received a distress call from one of its personnel, HFS Abba Datti, prompting an immediate response from the agency’s headquarters.
Firefighters arrived to find a ground-floor residential building, approximately 40 feet by 30 feet, engulfed in flames. The fire had already ravaged two bedrooms, a parlour, a toilet, and a kitchen.
Five people were trapped inside the home at the time of the blaze.
The victims were identified as 43-year-old Shodandi, his wife Rafi’a, 30, and their two young daughters, three-year-old Mardiya and one-and-a-half-year-old Yusira. All four died in the fire.
A 12-year-old boy, Aminu Shodandi, miraculously survived and was rescued alive from the burning building.
According to a statement by the Public Relations Officer of the Fire Service, ACFO Saminu Yusif Abdullahi, preliminary investigations showed that the fire started from a mosquito coil the family lit in the parlour before going to sleep.
He warned residents to be extremely cautious in handling fire-related items, especially during the harmattan season when the risk of fire outbreaks is high.
