3-Year-Old Boy Allegedly 'Fried' to Death With Hot Cooking Oil in Lagos

Posted by George on Wed 29th Jul, 2015 - tori.ng

A three-year-old boy, Basit Adewole, was burnt to death in the Iwaya, Yaba area of Lagos after two women, who were cooking, mistakenly poured hot oil on his body.

Location of incident

According to Punch Metro, a poor 3-year old boy named Basit Adewole living at the Iwaya, Yaba area of Lagos was painfully burnt to death due to the carelessness of two women who were cooking around him. The child was reportedly fried to death after a pot of hot oil spilled on him thereby setting him ablaze.

The bizarre event took place in the afternoon of last week Saturday when two women visited Audu Baale Street, Iwaya, to see a woman named Yemisi, who was celebrating her birthday.

It was gathered that the women, who did not meet Yemisi at home, started cooking in the room. Adewole and other toddlers in the house were said to be playing in the corridor. The cooking went south when the hot oil allegedly caught fire. The women flung it off the stove to salvage the situation but the oil unfortunately spilled on the little boy and set him on fire.

He was rushed to the hospital where he passed away the following day. The police after getting a wind of the occurrence arrested the two women and Yemisi. The owner of the apartment, Lateef has currently disappeared out of fear of being arrested by the police.

When PUNCH Metro visited the apartment, Adewole’s relative, who identified himself simply as Kehinde, said the boy’s life could have been saved if the women did not close the door of their room as if nothing happened.

“The women do not stay in this house. They are friends to Yemisi, whose boyfriend, Lateef, lives here. The boyfriend, Lateef, has not showed up since the incident occurred. On that afternoon, Yemisi brought the women to celebrate her birthday with her. She gave them the key to Lateef’s apartment.

"While the two were cooking in the room, the pot caught fire and they threw it out without minding the children in the corridor. Basit was burnt in the process. The women went inside and shut their door."

Kehinde also blamed the boy's death on the current strike action that has affected the government hospitals in Lagos as the workers were unavailable. The dying boy was rushed to a private hospital thereafter where he gave up.

If they had rushed out with water immediately, the harm would have been minimal, and the boy might have survived. When we took the boy to a government hospital, they rejected him because they were on strike. We then brought him to a private hospital in Yaba, where he later died.”