Tragedy struck in the Dinyavo area of Jalingo, the Taraba State capital on Monday, as four members of a family were electrocuted.
The victims were identified by the police as Remond Ofonbuk, 44, his wife, Mfonbong Remond, Hevean Remond, 15, and First Remond, 13 years old.
The Taraba State Police spokesman, Mr Abdullahi Usman said the incident happened about 11:00 a.m. on Monday.
“We suspect it resulted from a power surge.
“At about 11:00 a.m. on Monday, we were reliably informed that a house located in the Dinyavoh area of Jalingo was on fire.
“Detectives from GRA Police Division were quickly deployed to the scene and, on arrival, found the four victims with burns suspected to be from electrocution.
“The victims are Remond Ofonbuk, 44, his wife, Mfonbong Remond, Hevean Remond, 15, and First Remond, 13 years old.
“We have received information indicating that immediately after power was restored, the transformer serving the area blew up.
“We learnt that many houses within the neighbourhood experienced high electric voltage which might have led to the fire outbreak that inflicted burns on the victims.
“Our detectives quickly evacuated the victims to Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo for treatment but they were confirmed dead on arrival,” he said.
Usman said that the corpses had been deposited at the hospital’s mortuary for autopsy while an investigation had commenced to ascertain the real cause of the incident.
