Sallah: Muslim parents lament death of 7 kids
Two Muslim parents have lamented the deaths of their children who were looking forward to celebrating Sallah festival but, sadly, they didn’t make it.
A heavy windstorm had caused their houses to collapse on them, killing the children.
The fatal windstorm occurred in Taraba state.
In one of the incidents, a distraught father, Abdulhakim Hashim said his children told him barely few days before the fateful windstorm how they would be celebrating the Muslim festival.
The family was still deliberating their plans, when the unexpected happened.
The rain began to pour at about 8.40pm that fateful Saturday, accompanied by a strong windstorm.
“I just heard a loud sound, then there was darkness around us in the room. All of us – my three children; a boy Rabiu,7, and two girls, Sharbila 3, and Jummai 5, were in the room when it collapsed and buried us,” he told Daily Trust.
His wife reportedly called for help, which alerted the neighbours that eventually brought Hashim and his three children out of the rubble.
But, while Hashim and his young son survived, the female children died.
“I was brought out from the collapsed building alive but sadly, the two girls were dead and the boy Rabiu was alive with a fracture on his left hand,” he said.
The injured and other families so affected were taken to the hospital for treatment.
Residents would later learn of other fatalities. Another was the death oftwo boys living in a home located a few meters from Garin Magaji Primary school.
The bereaved father, Yakubu Inuwa, said the boys, named Musa, 4, and Chindo, 5, were sleeping on the same bed before their house collapsed.
“The boys were brought out alive but seriously injured with several fractures. They died on the way to the hospital,” Inuwa said.
Still, death was unsparing in the locality as three other children died in a house located close to Izala Mosque, also in Garin Magaji. ward.
The rain left as reminders, deaths and over 70 destroyed houses.
The residents are calling for succor from the Taraba state government.
