2 Kids Killed• In Fire

TWO KIDS of a young couple were trapped in a room and burnt completely yesterday morning under mysterious circumstances at Adukrom in the Akuapem North district of the Eastern region.

One was four years old, and the other was just three months old.

The mother of the two kids, 29-year-old Rita Amoako had left the two kids in the room to sweep the compound of the house they lived in. As soon she left, thick smoke was seen coming out of the room.

Before family members could raise the alarm, the bedroom had burst into flames, completely burning everything in it including the children.

The two children, Christabel Ofori Manubea, 4, and Laura Ofori, three months old, were burnt beyond recognition.

People at Adukrom have started reading superstitious meanings into the incident since no possible cause was detected.

However, a Holy Bible in the room did not get burnt though its edges burnt.

According to a close relative of Daniel Ofori's (father of the kids), it was not possible the fire could have been caused by electricity since their lines had been disconnected about four days ago due to non-payment of electricity bills. He said the gas cylinder in the room was completely empty and a lantern was being used.

Fire fighters who got to the scene an hour after the incident had happened were chased out of the place by angry youth who put out the fire with water and sand before the firemen arrived.

The embarrassed firemen quickly left the scene with their newly-acquired fire tender as the youth in the town hooted at them.

Rita Amoako, a petty trader who could hardly hold back tears, told DAILY GUIDE that she left the room at about 5:30am, as she normally did, to sweep the compound while her two little children still slept.

She said just as she started sweeping, one of the tenants in the house prompted her of smoke wafting from her room.

According to her, she raised the alarm and when people opened the door, thick smoke had completely engulfed the room and suddenly the room bursting into flames.

'I have lost everything of mine including my children,' she said amidst wailing.

According to her, apart from the children that she had lost, all her belongings and savings from her business had completely been consumed by the fire.

At the time of DAILY GUIDE 's visit, the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Akuapem North, George Opare Addo and representatives of the MP, Dan Botwe, had visited the bereaved family to commiserate with them.

Emmanuel Opare of the Mampong District Fire Service Station decried the attitude of the people at Adukrom who prevented them from performing their duties.

'We were forced to leave the scene because the people said they would beat us if we tried to do our work and we took the warning seriously because our men had been beaten before at Abiriw in a similar incident,' he said.

Mr. Opare said they had the information from a taxi driver at 6:03am and got to the scene at about 6:30am.

'Our problem is that we do not have any direct phone line to our office at Mampong-Akuapem and secondly drivers refuse to give us way even when the siren is on always accusing us of doing nothing in the society,' Mr. Opare said.

Mr. Opare said the unit would step up its outreach education to let members of the public know how they could help the Fire Service to offer them better service.

From Thomas Fosu Jnr, Adukrom