See how People of Umuahia residents escape electrocution

 

Residents of a three-storey building and adjoining buildings in Umuahia, Abia State narrowly escaped electrocution Friday night when a high-tension wire close to the buildings suddenly caught fire. Among those that escaped is Mr. Stephen Ukandu; his wife, Onyinyechi; four kids. Ukandu writes for Punch newspapers.

The incident, which occurred around 11.40pm, made residents to scamper to safety.

Though the actual cause of the inferno has not been ascertained, one of the three high-tension cables sparked, snapped into two, and fell on the ground, blocking the entrance to about four buildings, including Ukandu’s house located at 92, Uwalaka Street, Umuahia. It prevented people in the buildings from leaving their apartments.

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Nobody could escape through the gates to the buildings as the fire on the cable raged, leaving occupants of the houses with the option of either scaling through the high fence or wait helplessly to be consumed by the inferno.

All tenants including children in the affected buildings ran helter-skelter inside their various compounds shouting prayers and yelling for help while the few, who could brave it, scaled through the fence but not without injuries.

Other tenants in the area, who were jolted out of their sleep by the fire, could only joined trapped persons to wail and shout for help.

At a point, it dawned on the trapped tenants that the only option left was to jump over the burning wire in front of their gates.

Two aged men who could neither scale the wall nor jump over the scary burning live wire resigned their fate to God as they ‘saw death closing in on them’.

“We saw hell,” one of the tenants said, while another said “I thought that was going to be my end, but I only trusted God.”

It took about 40 minutes for officials of Enugu Electricity Development Commission to arrive at the scene.

Also, some officials of the State Fire Services arrived at the scene about an hour later with their truck only to find out that the fire had been put under control.

Occupants of the buildings described their survival as an act of God, saying t they never believed they could escape the inferno.

No life was, however, lost although some persons sustained injuries as they scampered to safety.