By George Odok
Fire from a lit candle has burnt a one year old baby to death in the Eta Agbor area of Calabar, Cross River State.
When the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, correspondent visited the area, it was observed that the thatch house was burnt down completely.
Mother of the child, Glory Etim Akpan, 19, told NAN that her child was sick, and so she went out to a pharmacy in the area to buy drugs and pampers for her.
Etim-Akpan narrated that she left the child, a baby girl, Kate Dickson, at home sleeping, while the candle light was burning. “My baby was having cough and catarrh, so I went out to buy drugs for her and pampers. Before leaving the house, I lit a candle and put it on top of a metal plate with a view to bring light into the room. I didn’t even get to the pharmacy when I received a call that our house was on fire. It was not up to 30 minutes that I left the house. Neighbours around heard my baby crying, but they couldn’t intervene. When I came back, we broke the door and I found out that my baby was already burnt to death.
“Also, I lost all my properties including my certificates. The fire burnt down my apartment completely,” she lamented.
Etim-Akpan said that her life has been shattered apart because she has no where to stay, no food to eat and no clothes to wear. She appealed to well meaning Nigerians to come to her aid through financial and material support.
