BABY DIES IN FIRE OUTBREAK AT PIG FARM IN ACCRA

STORY AND PICTURE: ZAINABU ISSAH

THE ROOM IN WHICH ZAKIYA DIED

A FOURTEEN-MONTH old baby was yesterday burnt to death in a fire outbreak that engulfed a compound house at Pig Farm, an Accra suburb.

The charred body of Zakiya Anaba, had since been deposited at the Police Hospital Mortuary.

SOME OF THE ITEMS BURNT IN THE FIRE

A male tenant of the house, who went to the rescue of his daughter from the inferno, sustained severe burns and is currently on admission at the 37 Military Hospital.

The fire, which started around 5 a.m., was suspected to have been caused by a water heater being used by Zakiya’s aunt in the room where the baby was sleeping.

At the time Daily Graphic got to the scene, fire personnel had managed to control the fire from spreading to the other parts of the house, with a number of onlookers watching the debris left.

CLOTHING BURNT TO THE GROUND

 Narrating the incident to the Daily Graphic, the aunt of the deceased, Madam Hajara Mohammed, said she got up at dawn to prepare food when she felt cold and asked her husband to heat some water for her.

She said the husband heeded to her request and subsequently informed her that the water was being heated and that she, Hajara, should check on it when it isready.

ON OF THE BUILDING WALLS IN THE HOUSE BURNT

During this time, the victim’s mother who was also awake to help with the chores laid the deceased in the room to go and offer prayers at the mosque.

Some few minutes later, the entire room caught fire stretching almost immediately to the other rooms in the house burning items worth hundreds of Ghana cedis to the ground.

THE ROOM WHERE LITTLE ZAKIYA DIED

Tenants in the house could not immediately tell whether the baby was with the mother or not until she came back from the mosque to confirm that the baby was left in the room.

SOME ITEMS ARE OF NO USE NOW

Four other rooms in the house got burnt totally beyond repair while some other two rooms had parts of their items burnt.

THE ROOM OF ONE OF THE TENANTS IN THE HOUSE BURNT TO THE GROUND

A tenant in the house, Mr Sampson Antwi, whose room was also burnt, said the fire spread so fast that he could not retrieve any of his items.

“I am now left with nothing but my shorts and slippers. The dress I am wearing now was borrowed from a friend. I have lost everything,” he said sobbing.
He, however, lauded the timely intervention of the Fire Service saying, “If not for the Fire Service, the whole compound house would have been burnt.”

The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) Coordinator, Mr Emmanuel Dogbe, who was at the scene said the extent of damage was being assessed in order to bring in relief items to support the victims.