An 11-year-old girl, Tunteya Salmu was on Tuesday (5 April) burnt to death at Meduma in the Kwabre East Municipality of the Ashanti Region, the fire service has confirmed.

The fire also destroyed a six-bedroom house before firefighters were able to douse the blaze.

The spokesperson of the Ghana National Fire Service in the region, DO III Peter Addai said “We had a distress call at about 1:57p.m., that there was fire at Meduma 80, near the Komfo Anokye Senior High School. We swiftly responded to the call and when we got there, the fire had engulfed the entire house and it was at its fully developed stage. We managed to put it under control and finally extinguished it.”

The officers, however, discovered the charred body of the deceased, while assessing the extent of damage.

“An 11-year-old girl lost her life as a result of the fire. Her body was retrieved and handed over to the Mampongteng District Police Command,” he said. “Investigations have commenced to determine the cause of the fire.”

A terrible loss

The charred remains were deposited at the Faith Healing Hospital morgue at Ankaase, according to a police incident report as it describes the incident as “unnatural”.

Father of the deceased Abdul Samad Abubakar said he is devastated by the “terrible loss”.

“It’s a sad development. My daughter will forever be missed. The harm has already been caused. I just have to leave everything to God,” Abubakar said.

Jonathan Ofori