Inferno consumes 3

Midlands Correspondent
Three members of the same family from Lundi Park, Gweru, were burnt beyond recognition, while another escaped without injuries when their apartment was inexplicably gutted by fire early yesterday morning. The incident occurred at round 3am when Adrian Pile (56), his wife Lisa (37) and their one-year-seven-month-old baby died after their apartment mysteriously caught fire while they were sleeping.

Their eldest son Jeremiah escaped without injuries.

Narrating the ordeal, a distraught, Jeremiah said the fire started at around 3am and it came from the bedrooms on the first floor and razed down the stairs before destroying the entire furniture and property in the house.

He said he sought assistance from neighbours to rescue his father and stepmother, but to no avail.

“I was sleeping in the lounge when the fire started. I was awakened by smoke coming from the bedrooms upstairs and I ran out and called for help from neighbours.

“When we returned the house had been engulfed by the fire and my parents were crying out for help,” he said.

Jeremiah watched haplessly as his parents were reduced to charred bodies.

A neighbour, Mr Isau Hondora, who shares the flat with the Piles, said he was awakened by Lisa who was crying out for help.

“I heard Lisa crying for help and I woke up only to find the house engulfed in fire. We called Gweru fire brigade while we tried to put out fire using a garden hosepipe but the fire was so strong that we could not put it out.

“We then sent a car to go and call the fire brigade but they were slow to respond. They then came after we had sent two more people on different occasions but it was too late because Lisa and her husband had stopped crying, an indication that they had died,” he said.

Ironically, the Gweru Fire Department is about 2km from the house which was burnt by fire.

It is alleged that they arrived about two hours later with empty tankers and only started putting out the fire after the entire property had been destroyed.

Police officer commanding Gweru district Chief Superintendent Martin Makusha who attended the scene together with other police officers said they were still to get finer details pertaining to the cause of the fire.

“I do not have full details as to what could have caused the fire. We are still interviewing informants to establish the cause of the fire. I will be able to give a detailed account after we finish the investigations,” he said.