His grandmother sits him on her laps, petting the little boy. The boy, barely three years of age, is going through excruciating pains. Joshua Emavweria is one of the children who became victims of the killer-kerosene in circulation in some parts of Southern district of Delta State, including Warri South and Udu council areas. At least, nine cases of kerosene explosions have so far been recorded. The victims are patients at the Central Hospital in Warri and the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin.
As the story goes, virtually all of the families whose children are lying critically injured in hospitals, bought kerosene the usual manner they have always done for as long as they could remember. The application of the fuel, the days it went wrong, was not different from how they had previously applied it all along, but there was something wrong this time. It is suspected to have been adulterated and thereby became dangerous. It seems being adulterated, suspectedly, is not the only thing about this case, it looks also like a targeted attack on children; besides the cases of the adolescents among the victims, who got burnt while carrying out chores, there are also cases, such as that of Master Emavweria, who were neither making fire nor carrying kerosene when they got burnt. The story of how each of the victims ended up party or wholly burnt varies from case to case. While Joshua and his sister, another toddler, were caught unawares by the fire that jumped on them from a distance, Oghenemaro and his sister, Elozino, were trying to refuel their lantern when it exploded on them.
•Victim of the killer kerosene
Giving an account of how her grandchildren became victims, Madam Titi Emavweria, said she was actually the one close to the spot of the explosion because she was the one cooking. But to her surprise, the fire from jumped from the local firewood stove in from of her and landed on the two toddlers who were supposedly a safe distance away.
“We cook outside and that morning as I set the woods I put kerosene, as I put the kerosene and lit the match on it, I just heard a loud explosion. The children were not close to me, but the fire just jumped on them, scattered on the two of them,”Madam Emavweria told Niger Delta Report, amidst attempts to calm her agonising grandson down.
Oghenemaro Akrovbie is luckier than his younger sister, Elozino, who suffered about 90 degrees of burns all over her body, including her face.
“ Our lantern had already gone off so I decided to put fuel in it. As I was putting it I just heard whoom and I threw the gallon away. That was when it affected my sister,” he narrated. As a result of the gravity of the burns on her, the hospital, according to its Public Relations Officer, Mrs Success Obere, had referred Elozino, along with another victim, to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH).
In the same ward where Oghenemaro, Joshua and others were receiving care, was Oghenewegba, with his legs, hands and face burnt. His fingers are already bent. As he was being dressed by the nurses, Wegba gave out a shout of agony, unable to sit straight on his bed.
•Victim of the killer kerosene
All the victims are children, among them some as young as three years. The reason it is curious is said to be the same reason why many of those who have heard and made moves did; they are children, who could hardly be blamed for their actions. They are children, who naturally should be protected from harsh and painful experiences, because of the effect such experiences might leave on their psyche. Little children, of select ages, have now been made to go through the horror of explosions, not nature imposed like in some cases in the northeast or some other corner of the world, but imposed by the greed of some persons doing illegal deals without a thought about the effect it might have on those who would end up with the fruits of their illegal deal in the larger society.
One of those who have come out to identify with the victims is the Chairman, Warri South Council Area, Mathew Mofe Edema. He called for an investigation into the development, even as he charged parents and guardians to enlighten their children and wards against such dangerous practices as fueling an already lit appliances. While he rendered financial aides ranging between N20,000 to N30,000 to parents of the victims, he also promised to relate their ordeal to the state government.
The parents of the victims, some of whom were seen at the hospital, though might not be thinking of the cost of saving the lives of their children and wards for now, they did not seem like people living in affluence. The fact that the unexpected calamity that visited their homes had access because they had to use kerosene lantern is enough evidence that the accidents would take a huge financial toll on them.
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