Journalist Loses Daughter, Grandson In Jos Fire Outbreak

A journalist working with the University of Jos Ice FM in Plateau State, Juliana Olajide, has lost her 17-year-old daughter and a grandson in a fire that razed the family’s apartment.

Naija News learnt that the fire outbreak also left Olajide and her husband with burns while they were battling to rescue their children from the flame.

Although the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained, the family suspected an electrical surge.

Narrating the incident after some neighbours rushed the victim to the hospital, Olajide said, “All I could remember was that I was forced to wake up at a quarter to 12 midnight to realize that the whole apartment was covered with thick smoke.

“I rushed out to my children’s room but I could not access their room because our sitting room was already engulfed in flames. I ran to my husband’s room. My husband had to walk through the fire to alert neighbours to help us. We had to break louvers to access our children to rescue them from the fire.

“I lost my 17-year-old daughter and my two year-old grandson, my husband is in another ward battling with his life also.”

Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Plateau State chapter, who led her members to the hospital, appealed to individuals, governments and corporate organisations to come to the aid of the family to help them recover from the disaster.

She said, “They have lost everything including the house and all they had laboured for in life, they need to be assisted morally, spiritually and financially to enable the recovery from this disaster.”