Posted by By JULIANA FRANCIS on
The danger of erecting houses under NEPA high tension cable re-echoed in Ikorodu, a suburb of Lagos, as 40 families were rendered homeless last week. Residents of Ogoloto looked on helplessly on July 5, when the high-tension cable reportedly fell on a building, killing two instantly and injuring many others.
The danger of erecting houses under NEPA high tension cable re-echoed in Ikorodu, a suburb of Lagos, as 40 families were rendered homeless last week. Residents of Ogoloto looked on helplessly on July 5, when the high-tension cable reportedly fell on a building, killing two instantly and injuring many others.
The fire consumed a 21-year-old man, James Chima, who died trying to save somebody
An eyewitness said electric current from a snapped cable flung the deceased to the ground, and his clothes caught fire, adding that, "within minutes, the charred remains of Chima were seen with current still running through."
But Chima's heroic act was regarded by many as being foolish, especially, since the man he wanted to save, Oti Eze, also died in the inferno.
Most of the residents, who wore forlorn faces, admitted that they did not do enough, but blamed NEPA and fire fighters. According to them, distress calls made to fire fighters were allegedly ignored.
Narrating how the incident started, one of the residents told Daily Sun that it was an explosion from the transformer that caused the tragedy.
They said the same transformer had exploded several times in the past, but this particular one that brought sorrow to many families was mother of all explosions.
"It is NEPA that caused this tragedy! Immediately the transformer exploded, the area was plunged into darkness. Then, all of a sudden, there was another explosion; the building caught fire as the cable hanging over it snapped into two," one of them said.
He wondered why NEPA did not detect from their control room that something was wrong. "Why didn't they switch off the power?"
Some of them said that the tragedy would have been averted if the fire fighters were on hand to put off the fire, claiming they called their office more than eight times, but to no avail.