Fire kills woman, son

A fire set up to keep a woman and her son warm ended up killing the two of them at Kukruzua in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region last Sunday.

The deceased, Ananti Ayabogot, 45, and Kofi Ayabogot, eight, died in the inferno when the fire Ananti set behind her window spread to the roof of her thatched room.

Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Bawku West District Police Commander, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), James Ankan, said the deceased woke up at about 5:30.a.m last Sunday and swept the compound as part of her daily household chores.

He said the woman gathered the rubbish behind her window and set it ablaze just to keep her room warm because of the cold harmattan weather.

Unknown to her, he said, the fire extended and caught her mud-thatched roof which was part of an uncompleted compound house.

Mr Ankan said the fire attracted the attention of a neighbour of the deceased who started shouting to draw the attention of their neighbours to salvage the situation.

Unfortunately, he said because of the intensity of the fire there was nothing they could do as they stood watching the room with the deceased in flames.

Mr Akan indicated that by the time personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service got to the scene, it was too late to save the two but they were able to prevent the fire from spreading to other houses.

He said the husband and father of the deceased, who is domiciled in Kumasi, had been informed while the bodies of the deceased had been deposited at the Zebilla Hospital Morgue for autopsy.