adminSukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
AN 80-year-old woman broke her leg and sustained bruises on her back when her bedroom hut collapsed during heavy rains that pounded parts of Mangwe District recently.
Nconyiwe Mpofu of Ingwizi area was resting in her bedroom hut when the building suddenly developed cracks and fell down on Tuesday afternoon.
“I saw the walls cracking and before I could move out, as I am crippled, the cracks widened. I tried to stand up but I could not reach my walking stick,” Mpofu told Chronicle from her hospital bed where she had a plaster cast on her leg.
She added: “Eventually I crawled away from the wall but I could not get far enough. The door fell on my feet and the wall collapsed on me.
“I remained there trapped under a pile of bricks and under the door up until my grandchildren who were in the next room alerted our neighbours who rescued me.”
While she was trapped in the debris she tried to scream but her voice could not project as she was in great pain.
“I felt as though my bones had been crushed to pieces by the bricks. It was raining heavily which made it difficult for anyone to hear me and I had to lie there until they rescued me,” Mpofu said.
She said her family rushed her to Plumtree District Hospital for treatment.
Mpofu broke her leg and had bruises on her back following the incident.
“It has been raining on a daily basis for the past two weeks. On the day I got hurt the rains started early in the morning and persisted for the whole day,” she said.
“Many homesteads were destroyed by the rains and crops have also been affected.”
Mpofu’s daughter, Ncoliwe, said she was shocked when she found her mother trapped under the bricks.
“It was still raining and children came rushing to my house to inform me of the incident. I found my mother lying under a pile of bricks and a wooden door was on her feet,” she said.
“If she had not crawled away from the wall she would have been injured badly. She has difficulties walking and the condition will be worse after this.”
derick.khumalo