AN eight-year-old Mutasa girl was burnt beyond recognition when the kitchen hut she was sleeping in with her siblings caught fire over the weekend. BY OBEY MANAYITI
The deceased, Immaculate Regede (8) of Makoyi village, Chief Mutasa area in Nyanga, failed to escape when two of her siblings fled the fire on Saturday midnight.
According to Manicaland assistant police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Luxson Chananda, Immaculate, Bridgette (12) and Rodgers (10) along with their nephew Tinotenda Chihwai (14) were left alone when their 60-year-old guardian Mildred Regede went to attend a memorial service at a nearby village.
“After finishing studying in their kitchen hut, Tinotenda ordered the three to put out a paraffin lamp which they were using before he retired to bed in a separate house,” Chananda said.
“Afterwards, Rodgers re-ignited the lamp to finish off his homework, but he forgot to put it out when he fell asleep.
“Around 12 midnight he was only awakened by the heat that was coming from his clothes. That is when he saw that most of the property in the house was on fire,” Chananda added.
Chananda said Rodgers and Bridgette managed to escape and when fellow villagers came to help extinguish the fire, Immaculate was already burnt beyond recognition.
Her body was taken to Mutare Provincial Hospital for postmortem.
