Man, 55, boy, 4, burnt to death
A 55-year-old man was in the early hours of yesterday (Monday) burnt to death in a lotto kiosk which also served as his place of abode at Ashaiman.
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Kwaku Kwatey lived in the structure alone at the Old Tulaku surburb.
An eyewitness, Mr Karim Issah, told the Daily Graphic that the incident occurred at about 3 a.m. but could not tell what caused the fire.
He said he saw the lotto kiosk up in flames while others tried to extinguish the fire to no avail.
He said the Ghana National Fire Service was called in to put out the fire, but it was detected that the man had already died.
The remains of Kwatey have been conveyed to the Police Hospital for autopsy.
Personnel from the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ashiaman Divisional Police Command have since begun investigations into the incident.
In a related development, a four-year-old boy was last Sunday burnt to death when fire razed through a ‘Low Cost’ house at Bolgatanga, the Ghana News Agency reports.
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Two of his cousins, however, escaped unhurt.
The three children, who returned home from Sunday School, were left in the house, while their mother and grandmother went to church.
According to Mr Isaac Mensah, father of the two surviving children and uncle of the deceased, he was at work at Ghana Water Company when a neighbour called to inform him that their house was on fire.
Mr Mensah said he rushed home only to see personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) at work trying to put out the fire.
He explained that his six-year-old daughter saw the fire in the house and took out her one-and-a-half-year-old brother from the sitting room to safety.
Mr Mensah said when she returned and tried to take her cousin from the bedroom, she could not open the door and she raised an alarm, but help got to them too late.
Mr Mensah, whose wife is an employee of the GNFS, said the deceased child was the son of his sister who is domiciled in Benin.
A Fire Officer, Mr Roger Abaa, said the fire service was called at about 11:30 a.m. and quickly responded, but could not save the boy, as some burning items had fallen on him, while he could not be immediately identified in the smoke-filled room.
Mr Abaa could not tell how the fire started, but said investigations would be carried out to find the cause.