2 Children Burnt to Death in Borno IDP Camp

2 Children Burnt to Death in Borno IDP Camp

In another sad tale in the aftermath of the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East, two children reportedly died in a fire that razed a part of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp in Jere local government of Borno state.

Punch reports that the camp is one of the unofficial ones located several kilometres from the Borno State capital, Maiduguri.

According to a source at the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), some of the IDPs are from Marte and Mafa areas of the state, while others are migrants from smaller villages and Maiduguri.

Eyewitnesses say the flame spread quickly because the tents were shabbily erected with dried stalk which fueled the inferno.

It is claimed that no fewer than 400 families had lost their homes to the fire before men of the State Fire Service arrived to contain its spread.

Unfortunately, the two children could not be rescued from the flames in good time.

Meanwhile, survivors of the disaster have blamed the incident on one of their fellow IDPs who was said to have been roasting groundnuts when the fierce harmattan winds blew embers from the fire she lit to the thatched shelters.

This is yet another case for greater care at the IDPs littered in the North-east, where victims of the insurgency have largely been left to their own devices.