A family of four, father, mother and their two teenage children, were electrocuted during a power surge in the Dinyavoh area of Jalingo, Taraba State.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Usman Abdullahi, who confirmed the incident on Tuesday, said the last child of the family survived the incident.

Abdullahi said: “Around 11am on Monday, we were reliably informed that a house located at the Dinyavoh area of Jalingo was on fire.

“Detectives from GRA Police Division were quickly deployed to the scene and, on arrival, found the four victims with burns suspected to be from electrocution.

The victims are Ofonbuk Remond, 44; his wife, Mfonbong Remond; Heaven Remond, 15, and First Remond, 13.

We have received information indicating that immediately after power was restored, the transformer serving the area blew up.

“We learnt that many houses within the neighbourhood experienced high electric voltage which might have led to the fire outbreak that inflicted burns on the victims.

“Our detectives quickly evacuated the victims to the Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo for treatment but they were confirmed dead on arrival.”

He added that the corpess had been deposited at the hospital’s mortuary for autopsy while an investigation had commenced to ascertain the real cause of the incident.

A resident who spoke with journalist, said, “I was sitting in front of my apartment when my neighbour started shouting. When I turned, I saw that the transformer in our area was on fire.

“I quickly turned off electronic appliances and my gas cooker. I didn’t know my neighbours were inside. I saw the last child of the family outside shouting as their apartment was burning.

We broke into their apartment and gained access to the room. That was when we saw their lifeless body on the floor.”