Three Children, Woman Burnt to Death in Rivers Jetty Fire

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

Three children and a woman were burnt to death early hours of yesterday , in a fire incident that occurred at  Bonny/Bille/Nembe jetty along Creek Road market in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.

THISDAY learned that the incident which happened at about 2am Monday morning, also burnt down about 20 speed boats and local boats conveying goods to Riverine communities in Bayelsa and Rivers.

It was also gathered that the fire started from one of the boats conveying some gas cylinders at the time of incident.

An eyewitness at the scene, disclosed that the affected boats were sunk into water, adding that they are yet to get accurate number of victims that lost the lives in the fire.

Meanwhile, the Rivers State Police Command has confirmed the incident.

The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Grace Iringe-Koko, who spoke with THISDAY, said the command has commenced investigation to unravel the cause of the cause.

As at the time of filing this report, she could not confirm the number of victims that got burnt in the horrible incident.

The PPRO said: “Yes, we can confirm the fire incident and the command has also begin investigation to uncover the cause of the incident”.

Similar incident happened at the same jetty last year November which  killed two children and goods worth millions of naira destroyed in the fire.