Benin: Two siblings, one other die in gas cylinder explosion
Two siblings were among those killed after a gas cylinder exploded in Benin, Edo State on Sunday.
One other adult, in addition to Favour and Odion Okotie, was killed in the incident which also left twelve others injured.
The incident took place, Sunday morning, at house 32 Osazuwa Street, off Benin-Agbor road.
Juliet Chimobi witnessed the incident.
She told journalists that the cooking gas fell inside a neighbour’s apartment after which an alarm was raised warning everyone not to light any fire.
“At this point, I refused to move in with my neighbours. But before I knew it, they all ran out again shouting fire, fire, fire.
“I later discovered that one of our neighbours, who had put on cooking fire in his apartment, opened his door, which apparently ignited the gas.
“The matter was made worse for the victims, who tried to escape through the exit door, which could not be opened.”
A teacher, who gave his name as Christian Unuame, said the owner of the cylinder does not live in the building.
“The cylinder exploded around after 7:00am. We took the cylinder outside and warned everybody not to put on fire. I went to the bathroom to take my bath and some minutes later there was explosion and the building was engulfed by fire.
“Nobody in the house uses gas to cook. It was somebody that kept the cylinder in my neighbor’s room. I have finished my youth service and just managing a teaching job,” Unuame stated..
