Three Burnt To Death During Heavy Downpour

Three persons died when a room in their self-contained house at Adentan Sakora in Accra caught fire during the heavy downpour that occurred in the the capital city Wednesday.

The cause of the fire is being investigated but the police believe it could have been caused by a candle which was lit before the three went to bed.

The deceased were Rita Owusua, 23, a mother of one, Mercy Akosua Odusubea Asante, 17 and Ricmond Owusu Ansah, a six-year-old kindergarten Two pupil of Cytech Preparatory at Adentan

According to the Adentan District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendant of Police, (DSP) Stephen Ahiatafu, initially the police had information that four persons had been burnt to death but when they reached the scene, they realised that the fourth person who usually slept with the tree did not return home due to the rains.

He said the room caught fire but according to neighbours, they did not detect the fire on time because of the rains.

When a neighbour woke up and saw the fire, he raised an alerm for others to join him to put out the fire. It was then that personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service arrived on the scene.

According to Ms Akosua Kwantsimah, a 42-year -old teacher who is the mother of the six-year-old boy, she left the house about 10pm for her husband's house, leaving her son and the two others in the house only for her to be informed by a neighbour that fire had swept through her room, burning the three persons who were asleep there.

She told the police that there was no electricity in the house and so they normally lit candles in the night but always put them off before going to bed.

The bodies of the three victims have been conveyed to the Police Hospital mortuary awaiting autopsy, while investigations continue.