The Taraba police command says four members of a family have been killed by electrocution in the Dinyavo area of Jalingo, the state capital.
In a statement on Monday, Abdullahi Usman, police spokesperson in Taraba, said an electric spark was suspected to have been triggered by a high voltage experienced when power was restored in the area.
Usman said the incident occurred at about 11 a.m. on Monday, adding that the power surge also resulted in a fire outbreak.
“At about 11:00 a.m. on Monday, we were reliably informed that a house located at Dinyavoh area of Jalingo was on fire,” the statement reads.
“Detectives from the 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 Remond Ofonbuk, 44, his wife, Mfonbong Remond, Hevean Remond, 15, and First Remond, 13 years old.
“We have received information indicating that immediately after power was restored, the transformer serving the area blew up.
“We learned that many houses within the neighborhood 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 Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo for treatment but they were confirmed dead on arrival.”
The police spokesperson said the bodies of the deceased have been deposited at the mortuary of the same health facility.
He added that the command has commenced an investigation to determine the actual cause of the incident.
