Fire razes down houses at Ashanti

New Town and New Tafo Kumasi, Jan. 12, GNA - A severe fire-outbreak at Ashanti New Town and New Tafo, all suburbs of the Kumasi Metropolis, razed down a number of residential apartments and destroyed property estimated at more than 300 million cedis.

The affected houses include a three-storey building and the Manhyia Extension at Ashanti New Town. The cause of the fire is yet to be established. In both instances, there were no deaths or injuries. It took a combined team of the Fire personnel drawn from the Manhyia, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) and the Kumasi Metropolitan Fire station a hectic time to combat the fires.

The storey block at New Tafo had its last floor comprising 14 rooms completely devastated while four rooms out of a 16-roomed compound house at Ashanti New Town, were also razed down by the fire. More than 210 million cedis, six million CFA and 20,000 dollars belonging to one Mr Osei Yaw Adu, Managing Director of Abigossey Enterprise, an occupant, were lost to the fire.

A team of officials from the Kumasi Metropolitan Secretariat of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), led by Mr Yaw Oppong-Kyekyeku, the Metro NADMO Co-ordinator, yesterday visited the two scenes to inspect the havoc. Narrating the incident, at New Tafo, Madam Akosua Dwaabor, one of the victims said the fire was spotted on the top floor at about 1.30 p.m. last Friday.

She said some so-called good Samaritans who rushed to the scene under the pretext of helping to salvage items from the fire, rather turned to steal them while others also took advantage of the situation to forcibly break into rooms and made away with valuables. At the house at Ashanti New Town, a spokesman for the victims, Mr Ohene Annor, said "about 12 million cedis was lost not to the fire, but stolen by people who came round to help. GNA