Fire kills Liberian Family

Accra, March 6, GNA - A Liberian and his two children were burnt to death while two others including his wife were seriously injured when their house caught fire believed to have started from a candlelight on Friday evening at Sowutuom in Accra.

Thirty-seven year-old Dominic Washington, Liaison Officer of the "Reach The Children Organisation," an international NGO and his children, Victoria, four and two-year-old Dominic, were sleep when the fire engulfed their room at about 2200 hours, relatives and witnesses told the Ghana News Agency (GNA).

The injured are on admission at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. Mr Jackson Klon Washington, a brother of the deceased, who also lived in the house told GNA that they had been using candlelight as a source of light because of frequent power outages in the area. Sowutuom had been without power for the past three days leading to the incident.

According to Jackson, on the night of the incident, he went out barely 30 minutes to buy something and on his return, he saw a crowd rushing into their house.

He said when he got closer, he noticed his brother's apartment blazing, so he joined hands with neighbours to break into the room, "but it was too late, my brother, who was sleeping with the children in the hall was found lying on them at a corner burnt to death beyond recognition".

Jackson said the deceased's wife, Leticia, who slept in an inner room was also found lying at the window in a critical condition. Another eyewitness, Ebenezer Owusu, a barber to the deceased family, said he heard Leticia crying for help in the night, so he scaled the wall into the house after unsuccessfully trying to open the main gate, and found the woman standing at the window still screaming in the smoke.

He said he had to force the door to the room open with the help of others and went for a barrel of water, which they poured on Leticia.

"Later personnel of the Fire Service at the Industrial Area came to the scene to put out the fire, while the Odorkor Police also came later to take the bodies away."

An Uncle of the deceased, Mr Roosevelt Sinneh, who was not at home during the incident, estimated the cost of property lost at 13,000 dollars. They included laptop computers, refrigerators, television sets and other household and electronic appliances.

A caretaker of the house, Elder Ben Donkor, appealed to the Electricity Company of Ghana to restore power to the area to save people from "such disasters".

He said he lost properties in similar circumstances barely two weeks ago at nearby Santa Maria when a number of kiosks were burnt as a result of fire caused by candlelight during a power outage. "It is sad that we shall continue to lose lives and properties under such circumstances because of the inefficiency of an organisation".

When the GNA contacted the Odorkor Police, they confirmed the story but refused to comment saying, the officer in-charge was still investigating. 06 Mar. 04