Osun Tragedy: Why female petrol station owner lost two children to Osogbo inferno

A mother of three was able to rescue herself and one of her children from a fire which consumed a filling station she operated.

Eyewitnesses said the woman’s escape was nothing short of a miracle. She escaped with serious burns, and managed to rescue one of her children in the process.

Unfortunately, her two other children could not make it. They were burnt to death in the fiery tragedy, Wednesday.

The sad incident happened at supermarket attached to Bovas Petrol Station in Osogbe, the Osun State capital.

The filling station is located opposite Osogbo Grammar School.

The cause of the fire was unknown as at press time. Residents say they fear sabotage and have urged the authorities to launch a probe into the tragedy, reports say.

Fire fighters have however made comments suggesting the woman may have paid little attention to safety procedure.

They said the filling station had no fire extinguisher raising doubts over whether the operator took safety seriously.

Fire fighters said the two children could have been saved if the supermarket, in which the victims were trapped, had multiple exits.

“If there were more exit, the victims would have been saved,” the director of Osun state fire service, Michael Ogundipe said.

“We met the fire but our efforts were to no avail because the building was not good. There is only one exit in the building.”

Ogundipe said he was surprised there was no single fire extinguisher at the petrol station.

“I observed that there is no fire extinguisher at present in the fire station,” Ogundipe said.

“If they had, they would have been able to stop the fire before it escalated,” he said.