Mother of 2, neighbour die trying to save her kids

A middle aged woman, Bashirat Rauf and a good Samaritan, Sodiq Saka, have lost their lives when they were electrocuted while trying to save her two children from being consumed by a raging fire.

Incidentally, the two children escaped the death that took their mother and their neighbour.

The sad incident happened on Thursday, September 24, at Utuh Street, Araromi Quarters at Ketu area of Lagos State, throwing the community into mourning.

According to residents, the fire started after two high-tension cables fell on a school building in the area, sparking an inferno and while trying to help put out the fire, the woman and Saka were both electrocuted.

Residents who mourned Rauf and Saka also gave thanks to God, saying that many school children would have died but for the Sallah break.

A resident who spoke to newsmen said:

“Bashirat has two kids; a boy and a girl. The kids were playing outside when the fell and caused fire. The school is close to residential homes.

Bashirat ran out of her apartment, screaming for her two kids. As she rushed to pick them, she stepped on one of the cables. When people realised that she was electrocuted, they screamed, but there was nothing anybody could have done.

The two kids are still alive. Nothing happened to them, but Bashirat died.”

Saka, the Good Samaritan who wanted to help rescue the kids, was also electrocuted. It was gathered that Saka noticed the raging fire in the school compound and dashed out of his apartment, frantically searching for a bucket to fetch water to douse the raging flames so that it would not spread to other apartments.

He had already fetched the water and was making his way towards the burning building when he also stepped on a cable and was electrocuted, and he died instantly.

His grieving father, an Imam, a Muslim cleric, said he has accepted his fate as a good Muslim as nothing can bring his son back to life.

“As a Muslim, I have accepted my fate. There is nothing I can do to bring the dead back to life.

Sodiq was the person who slaughtered the Sallah ram he bought for me on that day. When he was through with the ram, he told me he was going to get something down the street. A few minutes later, someone rushed to tell me that my son had been electrocuted in the neighbourhood.

I was told that my son only went into the school premises where it was burning to assist in battling the fire, only for him to be electrocuted.

What can I do now? Is it possible for me to give birth to a 30-year-old again?”