Amasaman fire disaster: Mother of deceased clears the air

The mother of the four children who got burnt in Wednesday’s fire in a house at Fise, near Amasaman, Sister Afia, has denied that her oldest daughter was to blame for the untimely death of her four children.

The four siblings, aged 7, 9, 13 and 16, died when the mother left the children to go and pray at a local church in the vicinity.

Even though her eldest daughter died together with the three other children, Sister Afia said it hurts her listening to comments that she was to blame.

Narrating the unfortunate incident to Alfred Ocansey on the Sunrise morning show on 3FM, Sister Afia, who is also a reverend minister at the church, said: “When they opened the building in the course of the fire, my daughter together with her siblings were already dead”.

“So if she left for her boyfriend’s house, how come she is part of the dead children? I am going through a lot so I don’t like what they are saying about me and my daughter.”

According to her, her daughter asked her to take the lead and promised to come with the other siblings.

Thirty minutes later, a resident rushed to inform her about the fire outbreak.

“Upon seeing the fire, I instantly felt my children were dead,” she stated.

She said she was lucky enough to have left home with the last born before the fire started.

Sister Afia said there were eight to nine rooms instead of the four that was earlier reported.

“It is not four bedrooms. The landlord has partitioned the rooms into eight rooms with plywood and another garage converted into a room making nine and people sleep in that room. He has partitioned the hall too so the fire went through the hall first and spread to other rooms so people should hear the facts first before they conclude,” the bereaved mother stated.

Meanwhile, Assistant Chief Fire officer for the Ga West and North Municipality Doris Lamptey says initial investigations reveal there were two cylinders found in the room and one exploded.

“But before one explodes there could be a remote cause to that before the explosion, so we are still investigating to find out what exactly led to the fire.

“When we got to the scene the people around said they heard the cry of the children and when they got closer they saw the smoke but when they called us the fire had gotten out of hand.”

Five other children were rescued by the Ghana National Fire Service without injury.