The charred remain of the victims
AN INFERNO which swept through a house at Agric Nzema in the Kwadaso Constituency of the Ashanti Region in the early hours of Sunday has claimed four lives, and caused severe injuries to four other persons.
The deceased persons were identified as Auntie Mary, 70, the landlady, her daughter Araba, aged 20, and Alex Frimpong, 40, a tenant in the eight-bedroom house which was razed down by the fire.
The fourth person, Eunice Owusu Afriyie, 36, who was rushed to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) after sustaining severe burns, died at the hospital, increasing the death toll to four.
The residents were asleep when suddenly the building caught fire, which travelled at top speed, leaving in its wake tragedy and horror, and totally destroying the house.
There were contradictory accounts by eyewitnesses regarding how the fire started, as different sources gave different versions.
Some sources said Alex Frimpong spotted the blaze on time so he quickly got his wife and children out of the burning house, which saved their lives.
Frimpong then tried saving the landlady and her daughter who were trapped in their room, but the Good Samaritan ended up being burnt to death, along with Auntie Mary and Araba.
Other sources said the three deceased persons were in the room where the fire started and they died through excessive inhalation of thick smoke.
They added that a pregnant woman and her daughter who were trapped in a room were eventually rescued when the window of the room was pulled down.
These sources said the three dead persons initially shouted for help but due to the blazing fire and thick smoke, help could not be extended to them.
The deceased persons were finally found lying side-by-side in a room after the fire had been doused by fire fighters.
James Baba Asalibanyina, leader of the fire team that visited the scene, said the fire started around 1:00am and his team managed to rescue three people around 1:15am.
He said the three deceased persons died as a result of excessive smoke inhalation, noting that the cause of the fire was still not known.
According to him, the fire fighters started to rescue lives when they got to the scene, since there were people in the house, before they embarked on fighting the fire.
Meanwhile, the charred bodies of the four dead persons have been deposited at the morgue of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) awaiting autopsy.
Other sources said five other inhabitants of the house, in an attempt to get out of harm’s way, twisted their ankles, broke some bones and inhaled smoke which endangered their lives in the process.
Such persons were also receiving treatment at the Accident and Emergency Unit at KATH, observers told DAILY GUIDE during the paper’s visit to the scene.
Agony
In a related development, melancholy was seen boldly written on the faces of people at Agric Nzema when the paper visited the area on Sunday.
Some people, believed to be family members of the dead persons, were seen shedding uncontrollable tears.
There were visible cracks in the skeletal remains of the building which contained burnt items such as refrigerators, television sets and furniture.
The disaster brought all activities in the area to a halt, as scores of people converged on the scene to discuss what exactly might have started the inferno on Sunday morning.
Even the traditional leader of the town, Nana Nkansah Boadu and his elders, who were shocked over the disaster, rushed to the scene to console family members.
Nana Boadu described the fire outbreak as “horrific”, urging the affected families to take heart, assuring them that the entire Agric Nzema community was firmly behind them in this trying moment.
The Agric Nzema Chief promised to allocate five rooms in his palace to accommodate the injured persons when they are treated and discharged from the hospital.
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