Generating set fire kills teenager in Bauchi

A TEENAGER writing the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in Bauchi State has died of burns after trying to start a generating set, which went up in flames. Mubarak Aliyu Gidado, 16, was rushed to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching (ABTUTH) where he died two days later as a result of the injuries he sustained from the incident.

The father, Aliyu Mohammed Gidado, said his son, an SSS III student of FOMWAN Model Secondary School, Bauchi, was trying to start the generating set in the back of their house when the accident occurred. “It was on Wednesday, April 22, around 7:00 pm after evening prayer when my son went to start the generating set.

The fuel just ignited fire and the flames consumed him as he struggled to escape. He came out of the area but his body was burnt from head to toe.” Gidado recounted that all efforts to save his son who was billed to write Mathematics the next day proved abortive.

“The doctors gave him a 50-50 chance but his condition worsened and he was placed on life support machine but his heart failed and he gave up.” The bereaved father expressed shock because Mubarak had been putting on the generating set for several years.

“As a father, you can’t quantify the grief of losing a child. It is God that gives and takes and we cannot question him.” “I thank God for Mubarak’s life. He was an obedient child.

He wanted to study Computer Science but now he is no more.” “He was a good child. The whole Islamic School students and teachers came to my house to sympathise with me over his death. May his soul rest in peace,” he said. Muktar Gidado, his uncle, described his nephew as a child full of hopes.

“He was a very brilliant child. He memorised 40 chapters of the Quran and he had a Quran in his pocket that day. He was a determined boy, respectful and obedient.”

Lawal Yusuf, Head of Daar Communications office, Bauchi and neighbours to the Gidado at the Federal Low-cost Housing Bauchi, said Mubarak’s death was most painful because the boy was focused in life. Yusuf said: “It’s sad, tragic.

He was brilliant and always came first or second in his class. Even at his hospital bed he was reminding his father that he had Mathematics paper to write the next day”.

Meanwhile, the Bauchi State Police Command reported that there was a fire incident early Sunday morning at Sunnah TV Station situated along Kobi Street, Bauch. The command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) DSP Haruna Mohammed said that the scene was visited and cordoned off by police patrol team attached to Township Division, Bauchi to prevent looters from taking advantage of the incident.

Mohammed said the Fire Service Department was contacted and they put off the fire with the assistance of good Samaritans in the area. Apart from the building, other property destroyed by the fire included four sets of computers and other accessories. “No life was lost and no injury sustained. Investigation is in progress to ascertain the cause of fire,” the PPRO said