A man, his wife, and three children have lost their lives in an inferno at the Kofar Sauri community in the metropolitan area of Katsina State.

The incident which occured in the early hours of Monday morning, also saw most of the household items burnt beyond recognition.

A source from the area who asked not to be named said the incident occurred shortly after power was restored to the area.

He said there was an unusual electricity surge when power was restored, and that he suspected the surge may have been responsible for the inferno.

He said the local power company was notorious for restoring electricity mostly late at night, and that the level of power they sometimes supply to the community was very high voltage.

Another resident said the harmattan wind, which had gradually picked up in the state in recent days, may have been the reason behind the fire incident.

He said the state had witnessed several fire incidents in the past, and that many of them were suspected to be as a result of the cold and windy weather.

However, another resident in the area called on relevant security agencies to investigate the circumstances that led to the inferno to rule out the possibility of sabotage.

It was learnt that the bodies of the deceased persons have been evacuated to the hospital, and will be buried later on Monday according to Islamic rites.

At the time of report, the police, federal, and state fire services have not released further details on the incident.