Home General Incessant Zesa loadshedding to blame as Granny (84) dies from candle fire .

Incessant Zesa loadshedding to blame as Granny (84) dies from candle fire .

by BustopTV

By Lloyd Takawira

In a saddening story resultant of the incessant Zesa loadshedding a Bulawayo’s Emganwini suburbs 84-year-old granny Elizabeth Mguni , died after a candle which she lit burnt down her room in which she was sleeping.

The incident, took place on Sunday evening, at around 9pm.

“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 Loveson Mguni, a family member.

“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.

“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 Provincial 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 lighting candles especially around children and the elderly,” said Chief Insp Simango.

With unending power cuts characterizing the country cases of house burnt have been increasing with many lives especially those of the young and the elderly .

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