Rachel Ogbu

Three boys, a girl and their parents have all died in a house fire in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The fire started at about 2pm on Sunday at number 17, New Estate Road, Railway Quarters, after neighboiurs said they hear a loud explosion.

The landlord said after the explosive sound, they saw balls of fire.

According to reports, the landlord, who did not want his name in print, could not hold back tears, saying he wished  lives were not lost in the fire.

“If the fire had only consumed the building leaving the lives, we would all have been consoled. But losing a family of six is a heavy loss”, he lamented.

Vanguard reports:

The residents claimed they ran out of their apartments in the confusion, adding that the explosion came from the apartment of the deceased family members.

They said were those consumed in the fire. They put the ages of the children at twenty two, seventeen, nine and seven years. According to a source, two other daughters of the deceased parents were not at home when the incident occurred.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that the two other children relocated from home to write the ongoing West African  Senior School Certificate Examination, WASSCE.

Neighbors said the father  was a taxi driver while the wife was a petty trader.  At press time, there was wailing in the compound.

Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Angela Agabe, who confirmed the  incident, said she was still awaiting details.