Fire Guts Water Company Quarters Kills 4-Year-Old Boy

Fire has gutted one of the junior staff quarterses of the Ghana Water Company in Bolgatanga, leaving a four-year-old boy dead. Two other children who were also trapped by the fire were saved following the timely intervention of personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service. The cause of the fire could not immediately be ascertained by the Ghana National Fire Service, but residents believed an electrical fault might have started the fire on Sunday. At the time of filing this report, the lifeless body of the deceased had been deposited at the Upper East Regional Hospital mortuary while investigations into the exact cause of the fire and the death of the boy were still underway. An eyewitness said the three children who were left at home on Sunday started shouting when the fire started, drawing neighbours� attention to the fire. The neighbours reportedly went to the rescue of the children. Unfortunately, one of them (the deceased) was left behind because the two children forgot to inform the neighbours that there was still one child in the fire. Eyewitnesses commended personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service for their swift intervention in preventing the fire from spreading to the other quarterses. It is believed that property running into thousands of Ghana Cedis was destroyed by the fire. The father of the deceased, Isaac Mensah, said he was not home when the fire started and described the incident and the death of his son as devastating and painful. The Human Resource Manager of the Ghana Water Company Limited, Sam Aninga, promised to relocate the remaining members of the family as the immediate remedy to their plight.