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A FIFTY-SIX-YEAR-OLD man of Racecourse Township in Kitwe has been burnt to death in an inferno that gutted his house and left six children with serious burns.
Patrick Mwape and the children were sleeping when their house caught fire in the early hours of yesterday from a candle that was believed to have been left burning in the living room.
Acting Copperbelt Province police commissioner Joyce Kasosa and Kitwe Central Hospital (KCH) authorities confirmed in separate interviews the tragedy which happened around 01:30 hours.
Ms Kasosa said Mr Mwape died on the spot while his children sustained serious burns and were admitted to KCH.
“It is suspected that a candle was left burning in the sitting room where the children were sleeping and that led to the house catching fire and spreading to where Mr Mwape was sleeping,” Ms Kasosa said.
KCH acting spokesperson Chizongo Tembo said Mr Mwape was taken to the hospital as a brought-in-dead (BID) case around 03:00 hours.
Ms Tembo said the hospital also received six children with burns sustained in the inferno.
“The children are all admitted in Kafue Ward which is our burns unit and their condition is serious but stable,” she said.
She named the children as Memory Mwape, 20, Patrick Mwape, 14, Moses Mwape, 13, Joseph Mwape, 11, Kasonde Musonda, whose age was not given, and three-year-old Linda Mwape.
Meanwhile, Ms Kasosa said a suspected criminal armed with an AK47 rifle in the early hours of yesterday invaded an area where people sell livestock in Chililabombwe and snatched over K7,000 from the traders.
She said the robber stormed the area around 03:00 hours and demanded money from 21 traders while brandishing the rifle.
“He later fired five rounds of ammunition and collected K7,021 from 21 traders,” she said.
Ms Kasosa said police who went to the site only picked empty cartridges.
She said investigations had been launched.
