A GRANNY (84) from Bulawayo’s Emganwini suburb was burnt to
death after the room she was sleeping in caught fire when a lit candle
allegedly fell on her bed during Zesa load shedding on Sunday.
An ambulance crew pronounced Elizabeth Mguni dead upon
arrival at her family’s home following a distress call.
The incident occurred at about 9PM while the suburb was
also without water due to the Bulawayo City Council’s water shedding exercise.
Mguni’s nephew Mr Loveson Mguni said his aunt had retired
to bed while the rest of the family was still killing time in the lounge.
“She went to bed early and the rest of us were still
chatting in the lounge. Due to Zesa load shedding we had placed a lit candle in
her room and also lit a mosquito coil. We don’t even know how the fire broke
out. But I just saw my wife who was lying on the couch suddenly screaming and
dashing to her room. She said she smelt smoke,” said Mr Mguni.
He said the granny had already been burnt on the face as
well as back.
“The fire was concentrated on her pillow. But she was
seriously burnt on her back and her face. We suspect she could have died due to
suffocation.
“There was just too much smoke that was coming from her
room. We managed to pull her out of the room while our neighbours reported the
incident to emergency services and an ambulance was called. By the time it
arrived we had managed to put out the fire. However, the ambulance crew
pronounced her dead on arrival,” he said.
Mr Mguni said they also called police. He said they put out the fire before it spread to other
rooms.
“If it wasn’t for
that little water that was stored in the house, we could be telling a different
story. We didn’t have running water in the house due to water shedding,” he
said.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Chief Inspector Precious
Simango said the matter was being treated as a sudden death.
“There is no foul play suspected in this case and we are
treating the matter as a sudden death. We however, want to appeal to members of
the public to avoid leaving lit candles especially around children and the elderly,”
said Chief Insp Simango. Chronicle
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