Tragedy hits family at Upper Caldwell

A fire disaster reportedly resulting from candle is said to have killed two persons in Banana Farm Community at Upper Caldwell, Montserrado County.

The victims identified as Hawa Colemon, 21, and Siah Kwella, 18, died when fire hit a six – bedroom house in which the victims were sleeping.The uncle of the two victims, Mr. Lawson Colemon narrates that while sleeping around 3 am on Saturday, 14 July, they heard some of their neighbors alarming fire.

When they woke up, Mr. coleman says they saw the six – bedroom house burning, adding that the blazing fire had already engulfed the entire structure in which the victims were.

According to Mr. Coleman, all attempts by neighbors to extinguish the fire did not succeed in rescuing the victims.He says they called in fire fighters from the Liberia Petroleum Refinery Corporation (LPRC) and the Liberia National Fire Service (LNFS), but the fire fighters arrived on the scene when the house had burnt already.

According to Mr. Coleman, victim Hawa Colemon was a marketer who sold dry fish at Upper Caldwell General Market while Siah Kwella was the granddaughter of his uncle identified as Mr. Patrick Kwella.

Colemon narrated in tears, recalling how on many occasions he gave advice to his nieces to stop lighting candle in the house and warning them of its danger.
But he says they never listened to him.

In a related development, a motor accident broke two other persons’ legs from the same family while returning from the burial of the two fire victims and riding on motorbike.

The motorbike that the two unnamed victims were riding on was hit by a speeding light green jeep, breaking their legs instantly.They were returning from the burial site in Mount Coffer, and the two accident victims are currently undergoing traditional treatment.

By Emmanuel Mondaye–Edited by Winston W. Parley