Family of five perishes in house fire
Mar 15, 2011
A family of five died yesterday morning in Kisenyi, a Kampala suburb, when fire gutted their house. Hajji Mohamood Kibengo, his three children Sarah Nakintu, 13, Yakoub Kibengo, 14, Abdu Kibengo, 12, and an unidentified housemaid, died at about 2:00am.
By Herbert Ssempogo
A family of five died yesterday morning in Kisenyi, a Kampala suburb, when fire gutted their house. Hajji Mohamood Kibengo, his three children Sarah Nakintu, 13, Yakoub Kibengo, 14, Abdu Kibengo, 12, and an unidentified housemaid, died at about 2:00am.
The cause of the fire was unclear. However, the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, Ibin Ssenkumbi, said it could have been a power short circuit.
Rescuers, among them the fire brigade, found Kibengo’s body in his bedroom, while the children’s and the maid’s were under a bed, in a nearby room, a witness said.
One of Kibengo’s tenants, Robert Sseguya, a dealer in maize flour, said at 2:00am he got a phone call, which alerted him about the tragedy.
“When I got here, smoke billowed from the first floor where Kibengo slept with the children and housemaid. After the fire had been put out, we pushed the door and saw the bodies,†Sseguya said.
Quoting security personnel deployed at nearby shops, Sseguya said Kibengo went down fighting.
“He banged the windows and doors as he called for help but it was not possible to save them,†he said.
Sseguya and his colleagues suspected that the victims suffocated as the fire did not spread to the two rooms where the bodies were recovered.
Neighbourus told New Vision that Kibengo was in his mid 60s and self-employed. He reportedly had another family in Kansanga, a Kampala suburb, where his unidentified wife and other children live.
Kibengo and his children’s bodies were yesterday scheduled to be buried in Buyaya on Mityana Road. The housemaid’s home had not been established by press time.
This was the second fire in Kisenyi in two months. On January 17, three children died and one sustained severe injuries when a mentally unstable woman started a fire in area.
The dead; Aramanthan Ssegujja, 9, Ahamad Ssesanga, 5, and Amina, 3, were members of the same family.
A family of five died yesterday morning in Kisenyi, a Kampala suburb, when fire gutted their house. Hajji Mohamood Kibengo, his three children Sarah Nakintu, 13, Yakoub Kibengo, 14, Abdu Kibengo, 12, and an unidentified housemaid, died at about 2:00am.
The cause of the fire was unclear. However, the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, Ibin Ssenkumbi, said it could have been a power short circuit.
Rescuers, among them the fire brigade, found Kibengo’s body in his bedroom, while the children’s and the maid’s were under a bed, in a nearby room, a witness said.
One of Kibengo’s tenants, Robert Sseguya, a dealer in maize flour, said at 2:00am he got a phone call, which alerted him about the tragedy.
“When I got here, smoke billowed from the first floor where Kibengo slept with the children and housemaid. After the fire had been put out, we pushed the door and saw the bodies,†Sseguya said.
Quoting security personnel deployed at nearby shops, Sseguya said Kibengo went down fighting.
“He banged the windows and doors as he called for help but it was not possible to save them,†he said.
Sseguya and his colleagues suspected that the victims suffocated as the fire did not spread to the two rooms where the bodies were recovered.
Neighbourus told New Vision that Kibengo was in his mid 60s and self-employed. He reportedly had another family in Kansanga, a Kampala suburb, where his unidentified wife and other children live.
Kibengo and his children’s bodies were yesterday scheduled to be buried in Buyaya on Mityana Road. The housemaid’s home had not been established by press time.
This was the second fire in Kisenyi in two months. On January 17, three children died and one sustained severe injuries when a mentally unstable woman started a fire in area.
The dead; Aramanthan Ssegujja, 9, Ahamad Ssesanga, 5, and Amina, 3, were members of the same family.