Kumakwane inferno�s cause not yet known
Pini Bothoko | Wednesday May 10, 2017 15:12
In an interview with Mmegi, the Officer Commanding for No: 13 District senior superintendent Modise Gabatshwane said investigations on the matter are still ongoing to establish the cause of the blaze.
“Investigations are still ongoing but at this point we dot not know what could have caused the horrific fire that nearly wiped off the Kumakwane family,” Gabatshwane said.
Gabatshwane said the couple’s 13-year-old daughter is still hospitalised and they are hopeful that she will recover as they pray for her recovery.
In the wee hours of Saturday residents of Kumakwane were jolted from their sleep by screams of a family as their house was burning and its occupants, a father, mother and a son perished in the inferno.
A woman, together with her six year-old son, were certified dead at the scene, while the husband and their daughter were taken to the hospital with serious injuries. The husband succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.
Neighbours and the couple’s two elder children were awakened by the family’s screams and on arrival they found the house on fire. They tried to put the fire off with buckets of water and soil but failed as the house’s door and windows were impregnable.
The blaze destroyed the family’s two-roomed house, leaving everything in ashes something that shocked villagers.
During this publication’s visit to the village on Saturday, villagers raised a concern at the absence of fire stations in the village not even in the nearest village of Gabane.
Kumakwane village is covered by Molepolole fire station located 60km away.
Villagers said if the fire station was near the souls of the victims might have been saved as the fire could have been stopped before causing more damage.