Eight children have been found dead after they accidentally locked themselves in an abandoned car in Lagos, South-West of Nigeria, local police sources have confirmed.
The children, aged 4 to 9 years old, were found in an abandoned Honda Pilot jeep with registration number AAA157BD parked inside a fenced house at Adelayo Street in Jah-Michael community, Olorunda area of Lagos State.
The house owner, Saliat Kazeem, whose grand-daughter was among the deceased children, was said to be sleeping when the children got trapped in the car.
The lifeless bodies of the children were discovered about 5p.m., on Saturday evening when Saliat Kazeem, who wanted to feed her granddaughter raised the alarm that the children were trapped inside the vehicle.
The children were from different families. A family has three children, another family has two, another has two while Saliat Kazeem has one (granddaughter). The names of the children were given as Zainab, Tayab, Farida, Mamod, Yakubu, Wahab, Aisha and Saliat Kazeem’s granddaughter.
Irate youths attempted to lynch Kazeem and tried to burn her house after the children were found dead. Kazeem was saved from the angry mob by the swift efforts of policemen who rushed to the scene of the crime.
According to a community leader, who spoke to Vanguard on the condition of anonymity, said, “The aggrieved youths almost lynched Saliat Kazeem, the owner of the vehicle and building but for the police, who intervened and sealed the building.”
Yet to understand what was happening, a little boy who identified himself as AbdulKareem, said his two siblings, Aisha and Farida were among the children who died inside the vehicle.
He said: “My two siblings were among the children who suffocated in the vehicle. Foamy substances were coming out of their mouths.”
Lamenting, another resident, Adetayo Ojo, said: “The gate is hardly open, anytime we pass through this street, the gate is always locked. So, I wonder what happened that it was opened and eight children went there to play.”
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