Tragedy struck on Friday night in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, when a huge rock shifted off its base and fell on a ‘room and parlour’ apartment at Oke Ola Street in Iberekodo crushing four members of a family.
It killed Mrs. Silifat Lawal, her two daughters — 15-year-old Rasheedat and four-year-old Semia — and a grandchild, Sukurat.
According to the deceased’s neighbours, they had had their dinner and went to bed earlier than usual as a result of torrential rain.
“At about 9pm, a huge rock, which had been sitting a distance to the building for the past eight years, tumbled off its base, and rolled towards the apartment of the Lawals and crushed them to death,” he told our correspondent on condition of anonymity.
Another neighbour to the deceased, Mrs. Khadijat Adegoke, who said the sound of the impact of the cascading rock was dwarfed by the heavy rain, said they (neighbours) got to know when late Silifat’s husband, Ismail Lawal, rushed out and shouted for help.
According to her, neighbours rushed to the scene but could do nothing as the victims had already been crushed.
She said, “The incident happened around 9pm. The rain was very heavy since 5pm. When the rock shifted and crushed them, we didn’t hear because of the sound of the rain.
“The husband came out shouting. We rushed there only to find out that all the four of them had been crushed to death.
“The husband was sleeping in the sitting room. That was why he escaped death with another daughter, Rafia.”
(source: PUNCH)
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