Residents of Isale- Aro area of Osogbo, capital of Osun State, watched helplessly as a 75-year-old man, Lamina Ishola, was burnt to death on Saturday.
It was gathered that the neighbourhood had noticed thick flame coming out of one of the rooms in the mud house where Ishola lived at about 9pm on the fateful day.
He explained that some residents of the area had made frantic effort to put out the inferno before fire fighters arrived the scene.
But Ishola, a father of two- a ten-year-old and a girl, aged 7-was unlucky as the fire had burned him to death before help came his way.
71-year-old brother of the deceased, who identified himself as Ademola Oseni, said the fire was caused by a kerosene lantern.
Oseni said Ishola, who was not in good mental condition owing to an injury he sustained in an accident, could had mistakenly hit the lantern while asleep, igniting the fire that consumed him.
The Public Relations Officer of the Osun State Police Command, Mrs Folasade Odoro, said the police were not aware of the fire incident.