Residents of Sabon Gari area of Zaria, Kaduna State, have been thrown into mourning after fire gutted the residence of a couple, killing them and their six children.

City Round gathered that the fire happened around 2am on Thursday when the family members were deep asleep.

A source said the heat from the deceased’s family woke up neighbours, who came out to put out the fire.

The source, however, said they could not rescue the trapped family members.

“We didn’t see firefighters until the family members were buried,” he added.

He identified the victims as Malam Rabiu Mohammed, who was the head of the family, and his wife, Fatima.

The six children were Rabiatu, Hauwa’u, Hindatu, Umar, Ibrahim, and Abubakar, an infant.

There was no official statement from either the state government or the state command of the Nigeria Police Force.

The spokesman for the police in the state, DSP Muhammad Jalige, promised to get back to our correspondent.

He, however, did not do so as of the time of filing this report.(Text, excluding headline: Saturday PUNCH)

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