Three perish in fire including BECE candidate

Three persons, including a final-year junior high school (JHS) student, were burnt to death at Santasi, a suburb of Kumasi, in the early hours of yesterday when fire engulfed the room in which they were sleeping.

The fire, which is said to have started around 1 a.m., completely burnt the single room and the wooden kitchen in front of it and spread to an adjoining chamber and hall apartment.

The 17-year-old final-year JHS student, Akua Lydia, was billed to write her final paper in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) which ended yesterday. She was a student of the Fankyenebra M/A Primary and JSS.

The occupant of the chamber and hall apartment, Tony Yeboah, however, managed to escape unhurt but lost everything.

The names of the other victims were given as Akosua Adubea, 49, a food seller, and Abena Lydia, 21, a house help.

The fire destroyed all items in the room, apart from the casseroles and pots used for cooking which could not melt.

Residents said they were awoken by the blazing fire, accompanied by loud explosions suspected to have come from gas cylinders.

It is unclear what caused the fire, but it is believed to have been worsened by the presence of combustibles in the kitchen which also served as the main entrance to the single room.

The kitchen also served as a storeroom where oil, gas cylinders, bags of rice and other condiments used for cooking were kept.

Mama Akos, as Adubea was popularly known in the area, was a mother of three boys who had built her own house at Pakyi on the Obuasi road where her family lived but usually spent the night at Santasi where her business was located.

It took personnel from the Homicide Unit of the Ghana Police Service some time to retrieve the charred bodies and send them to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) mortuary.

This is the second fire incident that has claimed lives in the Ashanti Region in two weeks.

The first one occurred at Worakase in Mampong on June 3, 2016, during which seven people, including a man and his four children, perished when fire trapped them in their room.

Eyewitness

Yeboah, the next-door neighbour of the victims, told the Daily Graphic that around 1 a.m. he heard a lady, who was sleeping in front of his room shouting.

That, he said, compelled him to come out to assist her, only to see the victims’ room on fire.

“I initially wanted to go to the room to help, but judging from the intensity of the fire, I had to retreat,” he said.

According to him, a call was placed to the assembly member for the area, while other neighbours also came out to assist.

He said the fire was such that there was no way the victims could have escaped, since the other exit had been blocked, leaving only the kitchen entrance.

Mr Yeboah said although firemen from KATH came on the scene on time, it took some time to put out the fire.

Assembly member

The Assembly Member for the Santasi Electoral Area, Mr Samuel Amankwah, who corroborated the story, said the Fire Service team had difficulty accessing the scene and “that was what delayed the rescue mission”.

He said it took them close to three hours to completely put out the fire and the victims were later found buried under the rubble.

The Ashanti Regional Fire Officer, Mr Semekor Fiadzo, said investigations were underway to determine the cause of the fire.