According to the police, ministry of health sources a father put himself and his three children to fire, Hargeisa, Somaliland, following an altercation with close relatives of his.
Firefighters were not able to save the lives of the c
hildren. The father with first-degree burns covering over 90% of his body was rushed to intensive care. Chance of survival was said to be very slim.
It was reported that the incident followed a heated argument between the ‘deranged’ father and his relatives who asked him to vacate the house as it was going to be inherited. Concluding that he was not going to buy more time with the relatives on tenancy, the man
Concluding that he was not going to buy more time with the relatives on tenancy, the man bought padlocks, locked himself and the children in, doused kerosene/petrol on all corners of the house and torched himself and the children.
Neither neighbors nor the firefighting squad who arrived at the scene in no time were able to reach the locked-in victims in time to save them from the roaring flames.
Colonel Ahmed Swahili, commander of the Somaliland firefighters Brigade, declared that they reached the children dead.
The incident happened at the 26 June district, near Radio Hargeisa at around 10:00 in the morning, Saturday.
