Tragedy struck late Friday night in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, when a huge rock shifted and rammed into a building at Oke Ola street, Iberekodo, and crushed four members of a family.
It crushed Mrs Silifat Lawal, her two daughters, 15-year-old Rasheedat and four-year-old Semia. The killer rock also crushed the late Lawal’s grandchild, Sukurat.
As stated by the deceased’s neighbours, the family had their dinner and went to bed earlier than usual as a result of the torrential rain between 8pm and 10pm.
One of the residents explained that at about 9pm, a huge rock, which had been sitting a distance to the building for the past eight years, tumbled off its base, and headed for the apartment of the Lawals and crushed them to death.
A neighbour, Mrs Khadijat Adegoke, who said the sound of the impact of the cascading rock was dwarfed by the heavy rain, said they (neighbours) got to know when the deceased’s husband, Ismail Lawal, rushed out and shouted for help.
As stated by her, neighbours rushed to the scene but could do nothing as the victims had already been crushed.
She said, “The incident happened around 9pm. The rain was very heavy, it had been raining since 5pm. When the rock shifted and crushed them, we didn’t hear because of the sound of the rain.
“The husband came out shouting. We rushed there only to find out that all the four of them had been crushed to death.
“The husband was sleeping in the sitting room. That was why he escaped death with another daughter, Rafia.