In Jos, fire kills an illegal petrol seller and his wife.

An illegal petrol marketer and his wife died in Jos as a result of the country’s ongoing fuel shortage.

The couple were killed on Thursday when a fire broke out in their home in the Zawan community of Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau, where Mr Gideon Pam had hoarded petrol.

“Pam runs an illegal petrol business at Zawan Junction,” an eye witness and neighbor, Miss Shantel Alphonsus, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

“He was called upon to get more supplies from a fuel station in the morning, so he rushed back home to get some empty gallons to stockpile scarce gasoline.”

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“In an attempt to empty some of the gallons that had fuel in them, a fire broke out in the kitchen where the gallons were kept, trapping Pam.”

“His wife, Mercy, had gone out earlier and returned to find the house filled with smoke.

“She went into the house to save her husband, but she became trapped in the blaze as well,” Alphonsus explained.

She went on to say that the couple left behind a four-month-old baby who had been taken away by Pam’s mother during a previous visit.

Mr Caleb Polit, Director of the Plateau Fire Service, confirmed the incident and expressed regret that the couple had been burned beyond recognition and that the house had been razed before firefighters arrived.